Mass Effect III: Return of the Reapers
by krogan warrior 22
Summary: Hero, lover, friend, traitor, terrorist, killer, Jack Shepard has been called it all. As an ancient evil returns, Jack and the crew of the Normandy must decide who they really are. Rated Mature for violence, language and lewds. Everything belongs to EA and BioWare.
1. Prologue: Special Report

Notes: Hello everyone and welcome to my take on Mass Effect 3, the most controversial game in the series. First, if your new thanks for the click on this unique take to the Mass Effect mythos. Unfortunately, I suggest you go back and read the other two main entries in the series at least if you haven't already. You may think you know Mass Effect but, my version can be extremely different at points and I don't want anyone to get lost no matter how badly book one is edited. Second, while I will not spoil anything, I promise, I think addressing the elephant in the room is important...

The ending to Mass Effect 3 disappointed many including myself even to this day. I can say right now with confidence that you aren't getting that ending in the way it was presented. Will my ending satisfy everyone? Maybe, maybe not.. I don't want to strictly pander. However, keep in mind this is only part 4 in a 7 part series.

Finally, this is war with huge stakes and not everyone is going to make it across the finish line. That being said...this story won't be a bloodbath either. All I ask is that you read the entire work before assuming any particular characters fate. And again three books are coming after this. With that out of the way...

Prologue: Special Report

David Anderson sat alone with his thoughts in the captain's quarters of the SSV Normandy SR2. How in the hell had Humanities rise in the galactic community turned out to be such a shit show? Just over a year ago things were considered by many to be going fine at the very least. Udina hadn't been making a fool of himself in the Citadel Council for once and the Geth were on the run. Then the raid on Donovan Hock's estate to capture Shepard went to hell. Not only had they been working off of false information linking Shepard to the Collector attacks, they also started a war with Aria T'Loak losing multiple operatives in the process. That alone would've been enough to make any political progress Humanity gained during the Geth crisis come to a crashing halt, and that was before the incident.

Six months ago, the Viper Mass Relay, linking Batarian space with the rest of the Milky Way had gone dark. At first, people assumed it was merely a malfunction due to the signal that had pulsed through the Relay shortly before that. Unfortunately, the Normandy had arrived on the Citadel a few hours later and it was full of Batarian refugees. They claimed that Commander Jack Shepard had taken over an asteroid base near the Relay, using it as a weapon of mass destruction. At the same time, Jack and his husband Kal turned themselves in to authorities on Earth claiming they committed the war crime in order to stop the Reapers. Most people didn't believe the idea that there was a race of sentient machines bent on destroying all life in the galaxy every fifty thousand years. He wasn't most people, David had seen Sovereign nearly destroy the Citadel, to think that was just the Geth was insane. When Shepard had escaped Ashley Williams custody, he had assumed it was related to the Reapers. David just had no idea that was going to result in such extensive damage.

Not being able to sleep, David turned on the extranet device he had installed in the room, "I told you three years ago Emily, Shepard has always been concerned with his own personal life, and his made up conspiracy theory, before worrying about the Alliance's interests. That's why this news from the Batarian legal team doesn't surprise me."

That was Diana Allers a journalist for Westerlund News, a pro-human news organization. Like most of the time these days she was on Emily Wong's ANN broadcast to debate issues. Personally, David thought trying to debate anything with someone that purposely twisted facts to fit their argument was pointless. However, the segment got ratings because of how explosive their back and forths could be so the network made it a regular occurrence no matter how distasteful it was. He would have turned it off if Diana hadn't been saying something that was news to him. Even though he hadn't been paying attention to Shepard's trial every day, David was confident the trial was going into it's sentencing phase. What new evidence could the Batarian lawyers be presenting at this point? They already had Shepard guilty for killing millions, what else did they want?

Emily just glared at her from across the desk, "Whether you believe Shepard's story or not, do you really believe Geth caused all that damage to the Citadel on their own?"

Diana just shrugged back innocently in her direction, "I mean, why is that so hard to believe? I'm definitely willing to put more credence into that theory rather than saying there is a race of sentient machines coming to kill us. Seriously, Emily the Geth have been living alone for three hundred years. Who knows what kind of technological advancements they've made with everyone ignoring them."

Another guest put his hands up to calm her down, "I think it is important to point out that whatever motivation he might of had, Shepard saved the Council and the Citadel as a whole by raising the alarm. We shouldn't just wash that away because an anonymous source is making conspiracy theory level claims about what he did and for who when."

Emily cut in before Diana could reply, "That's absolutely right Gary. If your just joining us, Batarian lawyers on the Jack Shepard case are claiming they have received evidence that Shepard was behind the destruction of the SSV Einstein during the battle of Torfan. According to their sources, who are remaining anonymous tonight, Balak Hgar blackmailed Shepard with the safety of his now husband Kal'Reegar in exchange for ordering Torfan's experimental defense cannon to fire on the Einstein. They also believe the Alliance was aware of this and nominated him to become a SPECTRE anyways."

Her words made him sit down on the couch like she had just dropped a ton of bricks on him. It wasn't necessarily a surprise, the events before and after Torfan were suspicious. Why would Admiral Kahoku change his mind leaving Eden Prime to attack Torfan without some nudging? Why did the Quarians immediately withdraw from the celebrations after despite contributing a sizable amount to their victory? Why had that cannon fired on the Einstein when according to Shepard, he and Balak had been fighting over the controls? Shepard was the type of fighter that David was confident that he wouldn't have let that happen willingly. He had especially doubted Jack could have anything to do with that considering his mother Hannah had been the captain of the Einstein. His mind and he imagined many other Alliance citizens would most certainly doubt Shepard's virtue given what he had just been put in jail for.

Diana shook her head with a chuckle, "I don't know why either of you are trying to put so much doubt on this report. I mean let's think about Shepard's investigation into Saren. Why did it take so long? Shepard went off to Terra Nova in order to save Kal'Reegar from who? Balak. Who was helping Shepard get back to the Normandy after the Luna terrorist attack? Kal'Reegar. Hell, who was Shepard kissing the moment he got pulled out of Geth debris? Kal'Reegar. And who turned themselves in with Shepard after the Viper Relay attack? I mean I sound like a broken record at this point."

Emily fired back, "Congratulations, you proved that two people who are married have had a relationship for some time now. That does not prove that one; he would kill his own mother, or two; the Alliance knew about it."

Gary was looking between the two of them, "I think the real point that discredits the report is that Shepard was a SPECTRE. Why would Ambassador Udina risk this kind of scandal if he knew during the nomination process? It makes him look like a fool! If the Batarians could find this when they don't even have a homeworld, what does it say about our vetting?"

David couldn't help but wince from what this Gary had to say. He couldn't care less about Udina's reputation but, Donnel was going to drag the rest of them down with him if it made himself look good. Although knowing the man well enough, David had to guess that he'd put the blame for the lack of vetting on the dead Turian SPECTRE who purposed it in the first place. In truth, everyone in that briefing room on Arcturus had been 'at fault.' While the rest of them surely would've had a different first choice for first Human SPECTRE had they known about Jack's background, he wouldn't have changed a thing. No one else in the Alliance military had the courage to work with whoever he had to in order to get something done. And no one else would've taken the Reaper threat seriously until it was too late. Still, he was a little surprised no one from HQ was calling him right now about the broadcast, maybe it was a good idea to check other channels.

A red haired woman anchor was speaking much more calmly on the next station, "Improving diplomatic relations between the Quarians and Citadel Council have chilled after the Migrant Fleet refused to consider visitation by Council weapons inspectors. The move comes several months after Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib stationed himself on the Citadel, revealing deteriorating conditions for the Quarian people. The Migrant Fleet allegedly acquired dual-use ship materials, which could be used to create dreadnought-scale weaponry. The allegations leveled by unnamed SPECTREs, center around a battle over the Terminus world of Korlus. In a violent dispute, the Migrant Fleet fought Blue Suns mercenaries and when the fighting was done, took its fill of starship parts on or orbiting the planet. Quarian representatives have so far been unapologetic. 'We have no embassy on the Citadel, and are no longer signatories to the Treaty of Farixen,' Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema said. 'Our armaments are none of the Council's business. Further, these worries are unfounded. We have never had, nor do we plan to have, hostile intent to Council species.' Admiral Koris declined to comment."

A sigh escaped him as he was unable to ignore all of the fires that seem to have ignited all across the galaxy. From the Quarians appearing to be making a move for Rannoch, which was in direct violation of multiple laws, to the Batarians who were demanding Humanity take all of the Viper Relay refugees despite the fact that they were still at war. If those problems weren't enough, the Krogan were claiming that the Turians destroyed a cure to the Genophage they had been developing. If the Krogan weren't recognized on the galactic stage soon, their leader Urdnot Wrex, was threatening all out war on everyone he deemed to be the culprits behind the set back. Maybe joining the Citadel Council wasn't such a good idea, with the way things were going they were going to get dragged into multiple wars even as they were fighting Aria. At some point the Joint Chiefs and President Doalia was going to have to recognize that the Alliance military was getting spread too thin.

His omni tool device started to ring prompting him to spring for it, "How bad is the fallout?"

To his surprise it was Admiral Hackett who had called, "Bad. We just lost contact with two of our deep space outposts. There's something massive on the long range scanners."

He blinked for a few seconds trying to wrap his head around what Hackett was talking about. David had assumed Donnel or even Admiral Mikhailovich would've been the ones to call him about the political response they had in mind to the Shepard news. Hackett hadn't been known as someone who payed attention to sensationalized news programs and what he said didn't match up with the report. One of their bases was going to be under attack soon and he called the Normandy to warn him. Did he want the ship to deploy and assist in whatever conflict in the Terminus he was referring to? Surely he had to know Alliance engineers as well as several former members of the crew were still stripping Cerberus designs out of the ship in order to be positive it couldn't be tracked by The Illusive Man. Why was he calling Earth directly?

David made sure to have his tone take a more serious attitude, "I think we're talking about two separate things Steven. What were you referring to by something massive?"

Hackett sounded impatient with the question, "Like I said our deep space probes and sensors are going dark around the Relay that would've went to Batarian space six months ago. David, the scans we were picking up are like nothing I've ever seen. The mass size of the signals moving rivals planets."

A chill went through his stomach as he knew deep down what was coming, "Is this what Shepard warned us about?"

The answer that followed was disappointing but inevitable, "I'd stake my life on it. I've called the Joint Chiefs and President Doalia together for an emergency session to come up with a plan. Everything else going on right now has to stop Anderson."

It took everything Anderson had not to chuckle at that given the political situation right now here in Vancouver. There was no way the Batarian lawyers were just going to accept a delay to the trial right after they published damaging news about the Alliance to the press. Especially when the excuse he was going to have to use to postpone the sentencing was the Reapers, a defense that almost got Jack ruled mentally unfit to stand trial. The problem was Hackett had a point that he wasn't willing to argue against. If they were about to go to war with the Reapers, they needed the person who had been waging that war already for the past three years. He just hoped Hackett had enough sense to let Udina know what was going on. Otherwise, it was going to look like he was getting Shepard out on his own without consulting anyone first.

He quickly grabbed his dress uniform knowing it would be better to interrupt Shepard before his sentencing hearing began rather than making a scene after, "How long do we have before everything goes to hell?"

Hackett had an edge of sorrow to it, "Not long, I've sent word to other appropriate Admirals. The fleets are making a full retreat out of the Terminus Systems to defend Alliance territory."

The fact that Hackett was willing to abandon the entire war with Aria T'Loak was another red flag this signal was terrible. Ever since the second Terminus war began, the Alliance had the upper hand. Maybe it was just luck, or the fact that neither side had been prepared for the fighting to begin. Either way, the war had been messy enough that Hackett's fleet managed to start the siege on Omega within the second month. Unfortunately, since Omega was in the middle of an asteroid field, getting to the actual bas had seemed nearly impossible. Each asteroid around the next corner either had a fighter squadron hiding within to harass their convoy, or experimental cannons strapped to them similar to Torfan. When that didn't work she used Balak's playbook literally turning the asteroids into missiles. Hackett was willing to throw all the progress he made on Omega into the trash because he knew the same thing David did, the Reapers were here.

Anderson nodded with grim determination, "Understood, I'm going to get Shepard, see you at the meeting... God help us all."

Hackett let out a laugh, "God was never my biggest fan but, right about now I think we're going to need everything we can get. Hackett out."


	2. Chapter 1: A Sentence Delayed

Chapter 1: A Sentence Delayed

Six months was an awfully long time when you primarily were confined to one room Jack had decided. It was especially difficult when the only time you got to get a glimpse of the love of your life was during public hearings regarding your execution. Worse still, in the small moments they had together Kal was best described as distant towards him. He wasn't angry if the brief kiss they exchanged said anything, he was just defeated. His first assumption had been that Kal was struggling with his decision to save Zero instead of trying to stop Kai Leng from sending out the Collectors signal. And while he was sure that was on his mind, Jack was certain that Aaron Bowman showing up at the trial with his aging grandmother just to boo them added to Kal's depressed state of mind. The boy blamed them for the death of his mom Kate, even though he did everything he could against the Batarian who ultimately killed her. Kal hadn't helped Aaron's feelings on the matter since he had lied about what happened to her originally.

At least the two of them were both found guilty in the "Viper Relay incident," so they both were going to face the consequences. He hated the fact that everyone was just calling it the incident instead of what it was, a genocide. Jack knew exactly why everyone didn't want to use that term, it not only made the Alliance look bad but, it also didn't allow anyone the chance of hope people were still alive in Batarian Space. Someone like Councilor Udina also probably preferred the term so he wouldn't have to explain he got to the position he was in through the actions of a mass murderer. However, it had been six months and no one on that side of the Relay had attempted to salvage communications from the damaged systems. From his perspective, it was time to face the fact that everyone had died, either by eezo radiation or the Reapers. This was about the time that his lawyer would've hit him with a small candy for saying Reapers even if it was the truth.

The trial had been a mess from day one making Jack think representing himself would've been a better option, although, he doubted that would've changed the outcome. Their case never was about evidence since he, Kal, and the Batarians had all said the Relay was destroyed through their mission on Asteroid X99. Even reporters could see that the only difference between their version and the Batarians was motive. As soon as the trial began, Jack and Kal tried to explain what they did was because the Reapers were coming from dark space to kill every man, woman, and child they could find. Of course that went as well as the last twelve times he said the same thing to the point that the Batarians tried to argue he was legally insane. In response, his lawyer decided their best course of action was to lean into the Batarians original argument that the two of them committed the terrorist act because of what happened on Torfan and so they should receive a lesser charge. Unfortunately, the jury wasn't convinced sentencing them to death as soon as possible.

Jack had thought his last days alive were either going to be on the battlefield, or on that beach Kal had promised Erash he would go to. At this point, none of their predictions were going to be true and he was going to die here looking over the skyline of Alliance Headquarters here in Vancouver. Unlike the slums that scattered most of the Earth's surface seeing as the richest members of Humanity left many years ago, Vancouver was well maintained as the symbolic representation of the Alliance. Modern skyscrappers stood tall glistening with the morning sunrise. Jack wondered if Kal had a similar view from his rather generous living space during the trial. This wasn't how he had wanted the two of them to end up, it was just the way it needed to be so everyone else could have one more sunrise. If he could go back, Jack wouldn't have changed a thing. He just wished he would've had more time to communicate that to Kal better.

An all too familiar voice called to him from the door, "Commander, it's time."

Jacob Taylor, the proud Alliance soldier turned Cerberus spy before going back to the Alliance, was standing at the door wearing his dress blues. Despite probably having waited for this moment since the battle on Torfan, Jacob didn't have a look of joy on his face. Rather, he had a grim mask of duty slightly made more intimidating by the burn scars he had received on that fateful day. It was almost as though Jacob wasn't looking forward to putting him to death for his crimes. Thinking about it a little longer, Jack understood he had to be frustrated that Jack wasn't going to face any consequences for destroying the Einstein or killing his father. A part of him wanted to remind Jacob he had lost his mother in the same attack but, everyone already knew that due to her celebrity status.

A knowing smile crossed his face as he approached the door to get his handcuffs put on, "After six months in jail I don't think you have to call me that anymore, Jacob."

Jacob slapped the cuffs on his wrists with a sigh, "My dad always taught me to respect someone who's been in the service no matter what they've done after." He motioned to the uniform so Jack could see he was actually wearing Richard Taylor's dress blues, "Since today is really about him for me, I figure I should honor that."

His expression soured just a little, "I know he would be proud of you today, you've done a lot for the Alliance Taylor, don't forget that."

Jacob answered in a harsh tone, "I'm not perfect Shepard, none of us are... I'm just going to make sure that everyday I'm making up for the mistakes I've made... Let's go get Kal."

Jack's heart pounded in both anticipation and fear at the opportunity to see Kal again. Even though the circumstances were down right tragic, it was hard not to get excited about the possibility that he was going to be able to hug him in his arms one more time before the end. His mind was racing wondering if they were going to be executed in the same room at the same time or separately. According to Quarian religious beliefs, after exchanging wedding vows the two of them would find each other again in the next life and the one after that as forever soulmates. It was a silly question but, Jack couldn't help but worry about whether or not the way they died or where had any bearing on if that belief held true. He had to imagine that wasn't the case since Quarians could die at any time due to their dangerous environment as well as immune system problems.

While the two of them started walking through the base, Jack couldn't help but notice everyone seemed surprisingly active for this time in the morning. The first thing he thought of was that his own execution was happening soon, maybe everyone was just running around to see who could get a front row seat. If that was the case though, wouldn't someone at least approach him to make some sort of morbid comment or take a vid? He couldn't help but be reminded of the bridge on the Everest the day that the Skillyian Blitz started. There was a possibility this was normal nowadays given the fact that the Alliance was at war with the Terminus, this just seemed different. After the two of them rounded another corner, Jack's heart panged when he saw Ashley dragging Kal towards them from another direction with his head held low.

"Kal!" He exclaimed pushing past Jacob to embrace him.

The two of them pushed their heads together and spoke in unison, "Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum ner cyar'ika."

Kal let out a sad laugh brushing his cheek with one of his thumbs, "One of these days your going to say that right."

Before he could say anything back, Ashley glanced at Jacob. "Change of plans, the Joint Chiefs defense committee wants to see them."

Jacob gritted his teeth with frustration, "We're literally only an hour away from their execution! Why in the hell do the Joint Chiefs want to talk to him now?"

Ashley had a sympathetic tone to her voice, "Couldn't say, you know they don't talk to me after Illium. Just told me they needed the two of them... now."

She was refusing to look at either of them which was pretty normal for her as of late. During their time on Illium tracking the Shadow Broker, he and Kal snuck out of Ashley's custody in order to meet with Miranda for answers. When Asteroid X99 collided with the Viper Relay, Ashley was probably blamed by Alliance High Command for inadvertently allowing it to happen. From the sound of it she might have even been demoted a second time because of it. Jack felt bad that she always had a chip on her shoulder because of what her father did in the First Contact War but, that didn't give her the right to do whatever she wanted for the Alliance. He had no doubt she was a good soldier, he just didn't think she had what it takes to make life and death decisions for other people. Ashley might hate him now but, a demotion might ultimately be good for her.

Kal caught his attention when he asked "Anderson, what's going on?"

Instead of answering them directly he moved to whisper in Ashley's and Jacob's ear. Jack was frustrated being kept out of the loop like this. It was to be expected though given the fact that he wasn't part of the military anymore. Once again he had the feeling something serious was going on from the way that the two soldiers tensed up. Had they been losing the war in the Terminus so badly that Aria was about to attack Earth? Or did the Reapers make it out of Batarian Space in record time and were on their way here? That possibility sent a chill down his spine knowing Liara, Saren, Legion, and Rael couldn't have come up with a way to stop them in only six months. Jack didn't want to be right this time, that would mean that the Batarian sacrifice was basically for nothing. Ashley and Jacob eventually sped off in another direction leaving the three of them alone.

Anderson used his hand to motion them to follow him, "You two look good, if not a little soft around the edges. How are you two holding up since being relieved from duty?"

Jack replied sarcastically, apparently they were pretending he wasn't going to be killed today. 'It's not so bad, once you get used to the hot food and soft beds."

Anderson snorted pushing his way through a group of people up some stairs, "I'm sure we'll get it sorted out soon enough."

Kal was obviously irritated with everyone being vague judging by his tone, "Admiral Anderson, what's going on? Why's everyone in such a hurry?"

David stopped half way up the stairs craning his head back to look at them with a tired sigh, "Admiral Hackett's pulling the fleets back out of the Terminus. I'm guessing word's made it to Alliance Command... something big's headed our way."

He had a feeling his worst fears were about to be realized, he just had to say them out loud, "The Reapers?"

Anderson looked around making sure no one else was paying attention to them, "We don't know. Not for certain anyways."

Kal tilted his head with his own sarcastic voice, "What else could it be? I don't think Aria could ever master a fleet that could make everyone this scared. Cerberus and Lazarus are even smaller than the Terminus."

He gave them both a concerned look, "If I knew the answer to that, you two would still be on your way to the execution chambers right now."

Jack couldn't help but laugh as he followed David up the stairs again, "So what your telling me is now that the Reapers are literally knocking on the door they want to listen to me?"

Anderson used a keycard to get past some security with the two of them, "Better late than never Jack, and knowing you there was a plan to take them down before the Omega-4 Relay incident."

He didn't want to disappoint Anderson now even though the truth most certainly would. His plan A for stopping the Reapers was to make sure the Collectors weren't able to get off a signal to dark space letting the Reapers know it was time to begin again. That fell apart the moment Kal chose to save Zero allowing the transmission to be released. Plan B involved Saren Arterius and Legion inside the Perseus Veil successfully being able to steal Reaper coding language from the Geth consensus. Rael'Zorah's theory was that they could imitate the code in order to instruct the Reapers to detonate themselves. Jack's gut was telling him that the Joint Chief's weren't going to feel good about leaving the survival of the entire galaxy up to Saren. Having no idea what indoctrination was, they had to assume Saren was acting of his own free will when he unleashed Sovereign on Eden Prime and the Citadel. While Jack couldn't blame them for having hesitation, he was going to have to convince them that right now Saren was their only hope.

Kal surprised him with a scoff, "Unless we're planning to talk the Reapers to death, these Joint Chiefs of yours are a waste of time."

On the surface, Kal was technically telling the truth talking wasn't going to get them very far. What made Jack pause and think was Kal's new attitude towards the Reapers. Back before Omega-4, Kal not only pushed for him to talk with the Citadel Council one more time, he was also optimistic they were going to win. Things might look bad for them at the moment yet, Jack could still see they had a chance at stopping the Reapers once and for all. He was going to have to somehow give that hope to Kal again. Without Kal by his side to keep pushing him forward, Jack didn't know if he could be the face of yet another galactic war. That was if the Joint Chiefs wanted him in the fighting at all. It was possible all they wanted from him was to find out how to stop the Reapers only to turn around and throw him back in the electric chair.

Anderson had a calm tone when he spoke, "They're just scared, none of them have seen what you've seen. When you two blew up the Batarian Relay, hundreds of thousands of Batarians died. It was hard for everyone to take anything you said about reasoning seriously, until now."

Jack felt like he had to stand up for their actions again, "It was that or let the Reapers walk through our back door. If we had another choice, believe me we would have taken it."

Kal looked down at his feet as they were waiting for an elevator, "If I didn't need to save Zero we wouldn't have needed to be in this situation to begin with."

He put a hand on Kal's shoulder to prevent the Quarian from saying too much, "I think there's plenty of blame to go around this whole building Kal. We can talk about it after the hearing."

Anderson chose to ignore that thankfully by changing the subject, "I know you did what you had to do, Jack, and so do most of the Joint Chiefs. If it wasn't for that, you'd have been left to rot under the ground by now. They'll be waiting for us up top."

The elevator ride was a slow one letting Jack practice what he was going to say. Something like, 'I know your all scared but me and Saren have the solution.' No, name dropping Saren so soon would only make them panic more. Maybe he could bring up the fact that a Quarian scientist was leading the charge to defeat the Reapers? When they inevitably asked to speak with him though, Jack would have to explain the scientist was dead and had an ancestor AI made of himself. It came down to asking them to trust him and sadly he had already asked them to do that once before to negative results. He just told himself to accept whatever responsibility they placed on him for the events of Arahoht so they could move on from there. After being found guilty of the crime there was no point in trying to defend himself.

Jack gulped watching the door open to the large circular Joint Chiefs assembly area. President Doalia was the only leader physically in attendance while holographs of Admiral Mikhailovich, Admiral Hackett, and Councilor Udina flicked in and out among several others he didn't recognize. The mood in the room was extremely tense for more reasons than one. First of all, the last time he had seen any of these people he had promised to bring Feron back home so they could understand the Cerberus-Lazarus split. That went about as poorly as any of them could have imagined leading to him in chains. There was also the fact that at least some of them believed that the Reapers were on their way to kill all of them.

Udina was the first to blurt out, "Shepard is it true?!"

He noticed a groan from the others making him tilt his head, "Is what true Councilor?"

Mikhailovich stepped in to interrupt him, "Jesus Christ Donnel, Earth could potentially be at risk and you want to know if something from a gossip column has legitimacy?"

Hackett let out a stern rebuke, "There's no potentially about it Mikhailovich, something is coming. We just don't know what it is yet."

Doalia glared at the both of them, "Emily Wong's report can wait till later. Admiral Anderson, Shepard, I'm glad you could finally join us."

Anderson got in front of them to be in the view of all the holographs, "Security is a little tight as you can imagine. I brought both Shepard's here as soon as I could."

Jack followed David's lead standing right beside him, "What's the situation?"

He knew he had to focus on whatever they had to tell him but, he couldn't help feeling a little more worried by Udina's question. The Councilor wasn't a fool, he knew the impending attack was important despite asking that question first. What did Emily Wong report on that was so important Udina needed clarification on it before they proceeded with the meeting? Last time he saw the reporter, she was trying to find the link between the ExoGeni corporation, Admiral Kahoku, and Eden Prime. That was three years ago though, surely she had to have moved on to some other topic by now. The unknown landmine of whatever she had discovered could be a real problem down the road. Right now he had to put that concern aside and listen to whatever the group had to tell him. Whatever they already knew was something he didn't have to repeat and explain later.

Doalia put her hands together staring directly at him, "We were hoping you would tell us. The reports coming in are unlike anything we've ever seen. Whole colonies have gone dark. Whatever this is, it's incomprehensibly powerful. It definitely isn't Aria's counter attack as some of you seem to believe."

Jack noted Udina shifted around in his seat for later, "You brought me here to confirm what you already know haven't you? The Reapers are here."

Mikhailovich's image crackled for a second sounding impatient, "Then if you know what they are... how do we stop them?"

He was preparing how the best way to begin when Kal started to speak, "Stop them? This isn't about strategy or tactics. This is about survival. The Reapers are more advanced than we are. More powerful. More intelligent. They don't fear us, and they'll never take pity on us."

For the second time today Kal was taking the hopeless approach to the problem except this time he didn't mind it as much. Whatever he would have come up with would've turned into hours of debate that they simply just didn't have if Hackett was to be believed. It was a good idea to let the Joint Chiefs know that they were the underdogs in this fight. No magic plan was going to save them without major sacrifice, and even the plan itself could've already failed. Now they were aware there was no easy fix, Jack hoped they would be more willing to go along with his plan. It might be crazy for a variety of reasons, he just knew it was the only hope they had that didn't involve running away to another galaxy.

Doalia shifted in her chair watching the holographs really start to fizzle out, "But... there must be some way. I know you haven't spent the last three years spinning your wheels without any kind of plan."

This was his moment to explain their only chance to stop the Reapers. It might be a little less effective now that she was the only one listening but she was the President of the Systems Alliance. All he had to do was convince her anyways and the rest of the Alliance would follow suit. Just as he was about to start talking, Jack saw ropes coming down from the window outside. A civilian looking out the window would've assumed it was a cleaning crew, he knew better. Where they were right now had to be a classified briefing room so, no one would've had any clearance to see what was going on inside. His only hesitation and confusion came from the fact that he was seeing rope not explosions. The Reapers weren't known for their subtly. Were they charging tactics? Or had six months in prison made him paranoid of window washers?

A large three towed armored foot at the top of the window made up his mind, "Get down!"

His warning hadn't come a moment too soon as Krogan were swinging on the rope to burst into the room. He was too busy getting to cover behind one of the holoprojectors to count how many of them were here but it was probably at least a dozen. Was this what Hackett had been warning them about? While he would personally feel better, there was no way the Krogan could build any kind of force big enough to justify this meeting. The only plausible explanation was the Krogan just had awful timing. His next question had to be what they were doing here? Since they were seemingly just attacking this building specifically, he had to guess it was personal. Not so long ago he attacked Tuchanka to prevent a cure of the Genophage. What was more personal than stopping families from having children?

Urdnot Wrex's voice made his stomach spin, "You didn't think I was just going to forget what you did on Tuchanka, did you Shepard?"


	3. Chapter 2: Leaving Earth

Chapter 2: Leaving Earth

The shotgun blasts rang out over and over again yet, Jack couldn't see much of what was going on from the projector he was hiding behind. He was shocked when Alliance security personnel arrived immediately, but it probably wasn't for his sake. Even though President Doalia was in the room it was clear him and Kal were the real targets of the attack. Their best bet in this situation would've been to run away as fast as they could, unfortunately, Doalia's team took up all the space around the elevator which was the only way in or out. Of course the President of the Alliance was going to take higher priority then a convicted felon. That reality though just put Jack in an extremely difficult position, should he try to talk with the Krogan or fight them? Neither seemed like they would have a good outcome, the problem was he wasn't creative enough to come up with a third option.

After six months of doing nothing in almost absolute isolation, a part of him wanted to spring out of cover to get into the fighting. With handcuffs still firmly attached to both his wrists though all he would've been able to do was flail at the invading Krogan. Jack was worried that Kal was separated from him somewhere else in the room despite the fact that he had always been more proficient in taking down Krogan. His other concern came from the fact that the Reapers were still inbound. Did Wrex know that and wanted to make sure they went down in a blaze of glory? Or was the Krogan acting out on his own selfish impulse? If this was any other Krogan he would've gone with the latter, he knew Wrex wasn't the same as other Krogan though. Another question that came to his mind was how did Wrex know he was going to be in this room today? He was scheduled to be executed moments before getting dragged away to this meeting, so why would they bother? Something strange was going on here he just didn't have the time to think about it right now.

Wrex's booming voice wasn't hard to hear even over all of the gunfire, "Still exactly the same as Tuchanka Jack! All you do is hide behind your people when YOU are the one responsible for what happened. Are you really going to make me kill all of these people before you face me?! I thought you were better than that!"

Jack decided he should at least try to talk him down like he had on Virmire, "Wrex, I wasn't responsible for the STG group sabotaging the cure on Tuchanka! If it was up to me you would've kept that cure but with the Reap-"

He couldn't get another word out before Wrex was shooting again and approaching his position, "That's all you ever say isn't it?! Well I'm sorry my people having babies is a political inconvenience to you and your Reapers! But this ends NOW!"

Knowing that tone meant trouble, Jack had to roll out of the way to avoid the projector smashing into him with Wrex's biotics. The time for talking was over and this time the Turians of the ninth platoon weren't going to save him. He had to come up with a plan and he had to do it fast. Having rolled into an open space, Jack scanned the room looking for anything he could use to fight with. Out of instinct his eyes first caught sight of Kal who was with Anderson on the other side of the room. While Kal may have been feeling hopeless regarding the Reapers, he was still fighting the Krogan well having somehow managed to find a gun. When one of the Alliance security team members fell he realized Kal had to have picked it up from one of the other fallen soldiers.

In an instant, Jack dove for the weapon just as Wrex levitated him with his biotics. "Any last words Shepard?"

He used the time to aim the rifle he was barely able to hold with his cuffs, "I'm sorry."

Despite knowing he had to kill Wrex, attempting to shoot him in the head right now wouldn't do any good since he was trapped within a biotic field. However, that field traveled back to Wrex's palm like a funnel giving him a clear shot. Jack pulled the trigger twice causing Wrex to release him and growl in pain, shaking his injured hand as though that would fix it. Now that Wrex was distracted, he took aim on the Krogan's head starting to squeeze the trigger. The shots sped forward only to hit another Krogan who had been charging in the space between them for Kal and Anderson. Jack blinked realizing that if that Krogan hadn't of gotten in the way, he would've killed an old member of his crew. Although he had a perfectly justified reason for doing so, this wasn't who he was as a person. Wrex was just trying to get justice for the babies he had a hand in killing. Maybe it was time to try and escape to that elevator again.

Wrex didn't waste any time in pulling the trigger except all that they both heard was an empty click, "Ahhhgggg! Why won't you just DIE?!"

Before he could say anything in response, Wrex used a biotic throw to send him flying backwards. Jack didn't stop until he felt his spine collide with the large partially broken glass window at the back of the room. Getting thrown around with biotics while wearing N7 Onyx armor was one thing, he had experienced it multiple times the last three years. Going through it in a fancy prison jumpsuit was a lot more painful. These were the moments when he missed having his own biotics the most, because as of now he was just pinned to the wall waiting for Wrex to decide what to do with him next. Just as Wrex was going to hit him into something else, they both saw a large shadow fall from outside. He knew that shape, four thick fingers that came together in a two pronged cone form. A Reaper was here right outside the window.

Wrex let his mouth fall open, "What in the absolute fuck is Sovereign doing here?"

Jack was breathing hard struggling against his biotic restraints, "This is what I've been trying to avoid the past three years Wrex and this," He motioned to the chaos all around the room, "is why I didn't want the cure out there until after we've dealt with them."

An angry growl signaled that the Krogan wasn't swayed by his explanation only for Kal to come running at Jack and tackling him out of the window. What was he thinking? Did this building have any balconies, or were they going to fall multiple stories to their deaths? It was hard to concentrate on where they were sliding to when he could look up to see what was happening in the early morning sunrise. He couldn't count the sheer number of Reaper ships identical to Sovereign coming at them. While Sovereign had promised that their numbers would block out the sun on every world, he didn't believe it until now. Was Rael going to be able to transmit self destruct codes to all of these Reapers at the same time? His fears about that were going to have to wait, he was rolling along the angled glass edge of the building until he hit a railing usually meant for maintenance workers.

He took a moment to make sure the other two landed on the same floor he had while looking up at the sky. To his mild surprise and genuine horror, there were more than one type of Reaper he started being able to pick out in the sky. Besides the more recognizable Sovereign class, that were the size of Alliance dreadnoughts towering over all of Vancouver's skyline, he could also see smaller units lagging behind them for protection. When one of them landed across the water from their position, he could see they had three legs and a single central Reaper cannon for an eye. Jack had to wonder what their purpose was seeing as they were way too small to cause the same level of damage until he saw the bottom open up. It was too far away to see what was happening but, hundreds of black dots were falling from the opening on to the ground. His first worry was that they could be seeker swarms like the ones he had fought in his battle with the Collectors. Fortunately, the way they were falling out of the ship indicated that they couldn't fly.

Kal landing next to him made him relax just a little, "I didn't think this was how we were going to spend our last day alive together cyar'ika."

Jack smiled back to him with a confident tone, "This isn't going to be our last day here Kal. We're going to make it. We're going to stop all this."

Kal's voice had the same hopeless edge to it as before, "We already tried stopping it and look how badly I was able to fuck that all up."

Frustratingly, Anderson landed next to them just as he was about to say something else. "Shepard, Kal! If my 85 year old ass can get moving after that kind of fall, so can you two! Come on. Get up." While Kal was helping him up, David was typing into his omni tool, "This is Admiral Anderson requesting extraction. Can someone report in, anyone?"

A female voice crackled through the comm, "We he...yo...over."

Anderson frowned smacking the device as if that would make it better, "Williams, is that you? What's your status?"

Ashley's voice came through a little clearer now, "Me and Taylor are almost to the Normandy, but we're taking heavy fire."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "The Normandy is here? When? How?"

It was the first piece of good news he had heard all day. The last time they had encountered the Normandy, a Batarian named Griff had stolen it in order to rescue as many Batarians off of Arahoht as possible before Asteroid X99 impacted the Viper Relay. His first question had to be, why would Griff have chosen Earth as a safe place for refugees? Batarians and Humans had hated each other for the past fourty years, nothing good would come from trying to put everyone together under the same roof. Did Griff even have a choice in the matter, or had Earth been the easiest FTL jump to calculate out of the Viper? The most important question right now though was were the Batarians in a safe place right now? He couldn't imagine losing your home to a terrorist attack only to have the place you were staying get attacked again six months later.

Anderson waved a hand to keep him quiet, "Copy that, ETA to the dock is five minutes."

Whatever she had tried to say in reply had been cut off when several Alliance fighters zipped by overhead to engage with the closest Sovereign class Reaper. He watched wanting desperately to tell them to turn around knowing they had no chance of winning against it. Sure enough, the Reaper casually lifted one of its cannons and fired the signature red laser beam cutting them down with ease. Since they were in a city though, the beam just kept going to slash through one of the many skyscrappers near by. Jack couldn't even begin to imagine how many people might of just died in that building alone let alone how many could have been killed by the debris falling on top of them. His mind was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that it was like this in every major city on every major planet in the whole galaxy.

David started moving on the maintenance walkway they had landed on motioning them to follow him, "We're just going to have to hope they got that. The spaceport is this way."

Kal tilted his head to the cuffs they were both still wearing, "Any chance you have the unlock codes to get us out of these? It's a lot harder to fire a gun with them on."

Anderson sounded distracted as they rounded a corner, "You two managed just fine back there and I don't have the key. Once we get back to the Normandy we can worry about sorting that out."

Jack was making sure none of the Krogan were following them, "Shouldn't you be worried about what's happening with President Doalia back there? Your part of the Joint Chiefs after all."

The Admiral had a grave expression on his face, "Last I checked you were the only one to understand Prothean language and talk to a Reaper before. Getting you out of here is the priority. Unless I'm wrong and you two don't have a plan?"

He paused taking another glance at the chaos around them, "We have a plan..it's a long shot but if it works we'll be able to win this."

Anderson tilted his head in acknowledgement, "That's all I needed to hear. We're almost to the access point back-"

Another roar of engines cut him off except this time, they were coming from a Kodiak shuttle. Giving it a closer inspection, Jack could see it had clan Urdnot markings all over it. The fact the shuttle was just hovering in front of them wasn't a good sign. He knew they had to move and Anderson wasn't going to be able to get them inside fast enough on his own. Ahead of them, Jack could see another section of Alliance Headquarters roof was separated from their position by a short jump. It was risky since they were about a good thirty stories above the ground, yet it had to be better than getting shot or crushed by a Krogan shuttle. Kal saw the problem at the same time obviously having the same idea as he did. They both grabbed one side of Anderson quickly dragging him away from the access point back inside running towards the other rooftop instead. Jack was proud of the fact that they were easily going to make the jump until the Kodiak decided to fire underneath them causing the roof to collapse.

He gritted his teeth bracing for impact, "Ah fuck!"

Just as he suspected, the three of them landing in an office was as painful as he thought. He had no idea where the other two fell because his eyes flashed with pain from one of his knees hitting the edge of a desk. Medi-Gel would have no problem healing the injury but, Jack knew he wasn't going to have any of that available for at least the next few minutes. While he was confident that he was going to be able to walk himself in a few seconds, he wasn't going to be able to carry anyone else with that kind of injury. The only good thing about the extra fall was that he could see most of the Krogan shuttles disappearing into orbit presuming the three of them were dead. Except for one.

Jack had to roll out of the way when a nameless Krogan dropped out of the shuttle through the hole it had created, "I will be known all through Tuchanka as the Krogan who stayed behind to kill the baby killer!"

Since he had lost his scavenged rifle in the first fall, Jack just ducked before trying to tackle the Krogan into the wall. Other than his ears ringing from a Claymore shotgun blast going off next to his head, he was fine. Kal took the opportunity to put his own rifle to the side of the Krogan's head and started to fire. Unfortunately, he had unintentionally aimed for the harder part of the Krogan's head making him laugh while using his free arm to slap Kal across the room. He turned his head ever so slightly to see what was taking Anderson so long to help only to realize they were trapped in here with several new Husks. They had large bulging backs with four eyes causing his heart to sink, that was what must've happened to the Batarians trapped in the Viper Nebula for the last six months. What made matters worse, they had guns attached to their arms similar to the Husks he had fought inside Sovereigns remains. If he had to guess, getting hit by them at all would lead to indoctrination.

The Krogan shoved him back to the ground since he was distracted, "No one else is going to take my honor kill from me!"

It was a quick fight with the Krogan killing both Husks while getting shot multiple times himself. Unlike what he had thought would happen, the Krogan would just fall to the ground dying from multiple acid wounds. The Reapers weren't interested in indoctrination anymore it seemed, they were now focused on just killing whatever they could. Making a quick sweep around the room, Jack could see Kal and Anderson were alright, just breathing heavily and staring at each other. None of them had seen a Krogan's armor get chewed up so fast before, it shouldn't really be a shock. They had just watched Reaper dreadnoughts destroy entire buildings with ease, it was just new to see their soldiers could do it too.

Anderson was the first to get up, "Next time you two decide to throw me around anywhere let me know. Otherwise you might give me a surprise heart attack.. I'll try to unlock the next door, we shouldn't be too far off from the docks."

Kal was just staring at one of the Husk bodies sounding distant, "Yeah, we'll cover you..."

Already knowing what he was thinking, Jack walked up to him touching his shoulder from behind, "Hey. This is not your fault Kal. Think about what would have happened if we hadn't destroyed that Relay."

Kal countered in a somber voice, "Think about where we would be right now if we hadn't of needed that asteroid in the first place. What would this person have done with their life if they were still alive right now?"

A noise from the back of the office made them both turn around tensing at the possibility of having to fight more of those things in such an enclosed space. Initially seeing nothing, Jack was tempted to continue his conversation with Kal. His husband couldn't hold the responsibility of millions of deaths on his shoulders no matter how hard he wanted to right now. Even though he might have not been able to stop Kai Leng from sending the Reaper signal, that didn't mean he was the one pulling the trigger on the people outside. That was entirely on the Reapers, and they were just completing their programming like they had done every fifty thousand years up until now. He took a breath to start talking but, heard another quiet cough from the back of the room. They should have been more worried about another Husk showing up if it wasn't for the very Human sound. As the two of them rounded the corner of a desk, Jack saw Aaron Bowman holding his dead grandmother's body next to a small vent.

Aaron immediately recoiled when they approached making him frown, "Hey, it's okay...we have to get you out of here."

The boys tone was as hostile as ever, "No it is not ok! Everyone's dying...mom said she was going to stop this from happening."

Kal got as close to the vent as possible hearing Aaron start to cry, "Aaron, please come here. When haven't I done everything I could to keep you safe? Just take my hand..."

He closed his eyes when Aaron spat on his hand instead, "Just like you kept mom safe?! You can't help me."

Jack took a deep breath trying to find the right words for an eight year old, "We did everything we could for her. Sometimes everything just isn't enough and I am sorr-"

When the sound of the door opening hit his ears, Anderson shouted, "Shepard! Look out!"

Batarian Husks were on the other side of the door firing in their direction making them have to hide behind the table. Turning his head to give a quick look back at the vent, Jack could see Aaron had disappeared deeper into it out of fear. He was sure his rejection of their help was going to be one more thing that pushed Kal towards hopelessness, Jack couldn't worry about that right now. On the other side of the room, Anderson had ambushed one of the Husks struggling to get it's aim away from his head. Seeing the dead Krogan wasn't too far away from him, Jack sprang out of cover diving for the shotgun while praying it still had ammo. The kickback was incredible since the weapon was designed for Krogan and Kodiak shuttles yet, he was still able to get a shot off killing the Batarian closest to Anderson. His aim was subsequently too far from the other two allowing them to turn their full attention on him and Kal.

Before he could even get up Kal was charging the first full of anger. He slid to the side of the first volley of shots only to grab the Husk's arm so he could twist it back. Due to the fact that Husks were drained of their organic material, Kal could probably break the arm completely off because it was so brittle. The third Husk was trying to get a good shot in the struggle so Jack tackled it against a table. Using his handcuffs, Jack slammed the Husk's head into the table multiple times. After a blast rang out, he looked up to see Anderson had recovered shooting the last Husk just before Kal would've snapped the arm clean off. Even though the three of them just stood there panting for a moment, Jack knew it was only going to get worse. Soon they'd be fighting hordes of Batarian Husks as well as their Human equivalent once Dragon's Teeth started getting established.

David shook his head in mock disappointment, "Maybe we should've let the two of you have more exercise. You almost took my head off with that shotgun Jack."

He chuckled at the joke happy to have just a few seconds of downtime, "I'm not used to firing Krogan weaponry on a good day, let alone today."

Kal pointed back towards the vent, "Any idea where that goes?"

Anderson gave him a confused expression, "Back towards the holding area of the base I imagine. Why?"

Kal was about to answer when gunfire started coming from the other room. The three of them rushed through the door into a bridge section of the base connecting it to the docks. What they found were two Alliance soldiers that couldn't be older than nineteen fighting off another group of Batarian Husks behind a makeshift barricade. While Anderson just immediately started firing with his pistol, Jack and Kal moved to the other two soldiers stealing their sidearms so they could be useful. From what he could tell they hadn't even noticed as the five of them continued to get headshot after headshot on the group. His gut clenched when even just a stray shot to one of the soldiers shoulders caused him to collapse. Whatever they were using was designed to kill multiple species on contact, he wished Mordin was here to analyze the chemical. Jack was growing concerned the four of them were going to run out of ammo surrounded by enemies. Thankfully the last one dropped leaving them alone again.

The soldier crawled over towards his fallen partner, "Terry? Terry?! Come on Terry wake up man!"

Jack stopped him from touching Terry, "Hey, you don't know how long that stuff is active! He's gone."

He blinked several times staring at the three of them, "I never thought I'd say this after the Emily Wong report early this morning, it is good to see you Commander Shepard."

Once again Emily Wong had come up in a negative light only for Anderson to quickly ask, "Give me a status report of what your doing here soldier."

He saluted Anderson even while his wrist was shaking, "Private Ruthenberg sir.. Me and Terry here were trying to round people up for the civilian evacuation underground sir!"

David gently patted his shoulder, "I know your scared son, but I need you to keep going back the way we came. President Doalia might still need your help."

The private was still shaking despite trying to look brave, "Y...yes sir, I'll go right now..." He paused staring at Shepard, "Commander, if these are the Reapers like you said, are we going to be able to beat them?"

While he had no idea if Rael's plan was really going to work, Ruthenberg needed to hear otherwise, "We have a plan to stop this. It'll work, me and my team just need time to figure out how we're going to implement it."

Before he left Kal added, "Private, while your going through the holding area keep on the lookout for a little boy. His name is Aaron and he likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."

Jack could see him process all that from his thoughtful expression, "I understand, good luck out there. For all our sakes I hope your team works fast."

They watched the soldier disappear through a door on the left side of the room they had fallen into before continuing cautiously across the bridge. Jack didn't have much hope for him finding Aaron alive and getting him somewhere safe, he just knew that wasn't something he had to say out loud. Wherever they looked they could see the Reapers causing chaos throughout Vancouver. Entire buildings were collapsing from Sovereign class ships smashing into them as they landed. How were they going to mount any kind of defense when nowhere was safe enough to regroup? He had to hope that in the six months he had been gone, Rael, Saren, and Legion had come up with a way to stop them. Otherwise it was going to be the shortest war in recorded history.

Anderson groaned having to use his strength to open the next door, "This is a goddamned mess. Every minute these machines are here, thousands of innocent people die. They hit so fast..."

Kal had a sarcastic tone that wasn't helping anyone, "It's not like we told you they were coming or anything."

Jack helped him through the door before crawling in after him, "I think he's just trying to say he's frustrated no one listened to our warnings sooner."

David was walking as fast as they could while making sure they weren't going to get ambushed, "I understand that but you both have to realize some of us were listening. The Turians started a task force preparing for Reaper fights based on their exchanges with the Collectors. The Quarians have been mobilizing for...something. Admiral Hackett and I have been trying to end the war with the Terminus so our fleets could be on standby. And yet, they still just cut through our defenses. We need to get to the Citadel. Talk to the Council."

Kal tilted his head in a not so silent question, "The Citadel? With all due respect Admiral, the fight's in the Perseus Veil."

David stopped to look back at them,"What do you mean by that? It'll be everywhere soon enough. The Reapers will destroy everything if we don't stop them."

Jack stopped as well even though they had definitely gone over their five minute ETA, "Part of our plan involved stealing Reaper coding language from the Geth consensus. Without knowing if that's been done already, we're probably going to have to go to Rannoch and take it personally."

Anderson looked extra tired, "If your plan is that concrete, then the Council has to help us. They can't deny the Reapers exist when they're pounding on their door."

Jack laughed harder than was appropriate right now, "You sure about that? Last time, Sovereign destroyed their personal yacht and all they did was give me a sticker."

Anderson moved back to the door labeled dock, "No, but you were a Council SPECTRE, that has to count for something. Besides, with Mass Relay communication down they might not realize they need to move the Citadel. We don't want a repeat of what happened three years ago."

His eyebrows shot up, "Move the Citadel, I didn't think that was possible."

David hunkered himself to one side of the door, "All four Councilors have to use an activation key but, the station is equipped with a massive FTL drive to move it deeper into the Widow Nebula. It's a last resort kind of maneuver...I think this qualifies though."

The door to the dock opened revealing absolute chaos. Alliance soldiers were engaging with countless Husks while some of the undead Batarians were setting up Dragon's Teeth. It wouldn't take long for fallen Humans to join their numbers. That made him start to wonder what a Krogan Husk would look like, or an Elcor. At the center of it all was a hastily landed Normandy. He almost hadn't recognized the ship due to the Alliance paint job instead of the Cerberus colors he had gotten used to. Jack had to wonder what other modifications the Alliance made to it in the six months they've had it. With the number of Husks in the area, their only chance was going to be running straight to it and hope the door was open to them on the way there.

Anderson had the same idea running forward while activating his omni tool, "We've made it to the Normandy. Williams, what's your status?"

She sounded more stressed than usual, "Taking heavy fire, oh, god! They're going to take down the roof! Prepare for evasive maneuvers! You better get here fast, I don't know how long we can wait to launch."

Jack put his head down watching as a red beam of light tore a hole in the roof next to them. His first question was why the Reapers hadn't immediately fired on the Normandy while it was landed? Then he had remembered they had installed the Reaper IFF system shortly before hitting the Omega-4 Relay. Even if the Reapers shot the rest of the building to the ground, they would still identify the Normandy as a fellow Reaper. That was one advantage he could thank the now dead Illusive Man for giving him. He would be able to sneak into any Reaper hot spot without even having to use the ships stealth systems. However, they themselves didn't have that same luxury needing to get to the ship before any of the Husks decided to fire at them instead of the other Alliance troops in the area.

A very pregnant Tali was waiting for them at the edge of the cargo hold door firing at some of the Husks behind them, "Welcome aboard the Normandy SR3, Jack."

His relief to see that she was ok flooded through him with a smile, "Thanks, it's good to be back." Jack turned around to see Anderson was hovering outside of the ship while Tali and Kal hugged, "What are you waiting for?! We have to leave remember?"

Anderson frowned shooting at a few of the Batarians, "I'm not going. You saw those men back there. There's a million more like them, and they need a leader. We need every species and all their ships to even have a chance at defeating the Reapers. Talk to the Council. Convince them to help us, or at the very least get them to move the Citadel to give you time."

Jack couldn't help but feel like Kal in regards to the Council, "What if they won't listen?"

David was more frustrated then he had ever heard him before, "Then make them listen. Now go! That's an order. Consider yourself reinstated... Commander."

Jack caught a fresh set of dog tags the Admiral had apparently been carrying around, "I'll be back for you, and I'll bring every fleet I can, I promise."

As the ship started to pull away, he realized this might be the last time he got to see Earth.


	4. Chapter 3: An Unexpected Detour

Notes: Happy holidays everyone! Lewds towards the end of the chapter.

Chapter 3: An Unexpected Detour

The trip into orbit was a quiet one as they could all see the true level of destruction from the viewport in the cargo hold. Instead of lights from buildings lighting the planet from space, all Jack could see was fire. A part of him wanted to stay in an attempt to fight the Reapers for every inch of Earth. Anderson had been right though, his place was up here trying to get a plan in motion. The easiest solution was to find a way to contact Garrus who had tagged along with Saren inside the Perseus Veil. Unfortunately, the Reapers were jamming seemingly all communications through Mass Relays meaning they were going to have to travel into the system to get any kind of signal out. He was about to ask Kal how he was doing when he noticed the Quarian was already heading towards the elevator to get to their cabin. Maybe it was a good idea to give him space but, he had a feeling Kal needed a shoulder to cry on and just didn't want to admit it.

Ashley came out of the elevator past Kal marching toward him, "What the hell's going on? Where's Anderson? Where are we going?"

From her tone, it was clear Ashley wanted to hash out every problem they had ever gone through. All the way back to the hunt for Saren, the two of them had clashed over methods and procedures. If he hadn't of just barely survived a warzone he might have had the energy to have the argument she so desperately wanted. On top of that, earlier today he had been preparing for his execution alone worrying how Kal was doing. The truth was though that Jack needed to regroup with his husband after six months apart. Perhaps it was disrespectful to just ignore Ashley out right but, he chose to believe Tali would fill her in on the necessary details while they made the trip to the Citadel. Jack decided, albeit selfishly, to walk past her to catch the next ride for the elevator.

It wasn't that easy because she grabbed his arm, "Hey! I'm talking to you Shepard. What are we doing?"

Jack couldn't help from having a flippant tone freeing himself from her grip, "What does it look like we're doing Williams? We're leaving."

Her voice got louder catching the attention of other crew members, "Leaving?! Leaving where? And where is Admiral Anderson?"

Jacob's calm attitude gave him flashbacks to their early missions together for Cerberus, "I think it's fair to say your upset as everyone else is Jack. I think it's also fair for us to have an explanation on what's going on. We weren't with you on the ground, we haven't seen whatever you have."

To be fair that was a good point making him immediately regret blowing them off to begin with, "Anderson made the choice to stay behind to lead the ground resistance. He wants us to go to the Citadel, get help for the fight and warn everyone there what's coming if they don't already know."

Ashley surprised him with another yell, "Bullshit! He wouldn't order us to leave with everything happening down there."

Tali sounded insulted for him, "What do you think happened? Jack murdered Anderson just to take over the ship now?! He is better than that and you know it. And while I know you'll just ignore me, I was there. He is telling the truth Ashley."

Jack added with his Commander's voice, "I'm sorry Anderson didn't come with us. The fact is, he trusted me to finish this. We're going to the Citadel... you want out to get back under his command? You can catch a ride back from there."

He didn't have to be so harsh with her, however, he needed to be sure she got the message. They had been in multiple high stakes tense situations before and it didn't always turn out well. Just their confrontation at Hock's estate led to a war with the Terminus Systems as well as Sidera almost dying. With the Reapers crushing down around them, they couldn't afford one of their spats leading to even more consequences. Besides, since Earth was burning, he doubted she was going to be able to get back there anyways making his ultimatum hollow. He should have given her the benefit of the doubt, who knows if she had family members on the surface of Earth right now, clouding her judgement. The two of them had just been through a variation of this exact fight so many times that he was sick of it. When they landed on the Citadel he would be sure to ask her how she was doing.

Ashley gritted her teeth standing straighter, "Well then, I guess I better start packing my things Commander."

Jack almost said he was sorry only to watch her go to the elevator alone. The cargo hold was almost entirely empty except for Jacob and Tali. He had to assume the ship must've gotten here in a hurry with only the bare essential crew. Jacob was making himself busy putting away his fathers dress blues in exchange for something more typical on a ship for long travel periods. He could tell from the way that Jacob was projecting his body language, he wanted to be left alone. Jack didn't blame him for that either, today was supposed to be the day that he finally received some justice for the death of his father. What actually happened was not only did that man walk, he became a part of the military again directly over him. Tali on the other hand was sitting on one of the few crates around the room rubbing her pregnant belly speaking in Quarian to it. While he would always be happy to see her, he did have to wonder what she was doing here. The last time he saw her she was in Alliance custody along with Mordin. What was she doing here instead of a jail cell?

Seeing as Ashley definitely wouldn't want his company on the elevator, Jack sat next to Tali with a smile. "You doing ok? I'm glad for the help as always. I just don't think you should be fighting like crazy with you so far along."

Tali had a cheery tone, "Desolas just gets excited when guns go off just like his father.. Here, why don't you feel?"

He let her take his hand placing it on her belly when he felt a foot, "Desolas? You already pick a name without asking Garrus?"

She suddenly had a much more somber tone with her shoulders falling, "I don't know if we're ever going to see him again Jack. I know being in Alliance custody is limiting but I haven't heard from him once. He'd be happy with the name though, it belonged to Saren's older brother. Seeing as Saren saved us all more than once I thought it was fitting."

Jack wrapped both arms around her back for a second to comfort her awkwardly since he still had handcuffs on, "If he's still out there, anywhere, we'll find him. Speaking of custody, what are you doing here and not some place like Grissom Academy? I'm sure it would have better medical facilities to handle the pregnancy than the Normandy."

Tali squeezed his arm leaning against him to show support, "I know we will, now that your here.. When the two of you came back I was going to get tossed along with you but, Doctor Michel said she needed to keep an eye on me for the pregnancy. Since I know my way around the Normandy already, Anderson secretly put me in charge of the retrofit."

"What about Mordin?" Jack asked knowing the doctor wasn't going to get a medical reason to stay free.

Tali just sort of shrugged without a clear answer, "All I know is, they didn't keep him in the prison here. Maybe he's on Earth still...or Grissom Academy like you said. I hope wherever he is they're letting him do some good."

He chuckled starting to get up now that the elevator was back, "He cured Kepral's Syndrome with just two weeks in prison. My guess is they wouldn't be able to stop him from doing good."

Her hand slowly let go of his, "How is Kal holding up with all this?"

The question shouldn't have surprised him given the fact that they were good friends too. He was just finding it difficult to come up with an answer that was accurate. Kal had already been rock bottom from the trial, before all hell broke loose. One thing was for sure, Kal was going to blame himself for the ambiguous fate of Aaron Bowman. Jack could tell it was just going to keep eating away at him the longer they didn't hear anything which was going to be indefinitly. When hundreds of thousands of people were dying by the hour, it was impossible to be able to find one persons name in the list. He had to convince Kal none of this was his fault. It wasn't like he was personally leading the Reaper invasion in the way Saren had. Getting through to Kal was going to be a challenge, the last time they had the discussion he put his foot so far in his mouth that he had actually been afraid of permanently damaging their relationship. No matter what Kal said, implying Zero might be too dangerous for them to save had really hurt him. Jack hadn't meant it that way yet it didn't matter since that was the message Kal got.

He gave her a worried glance, "Honestly? I don't know Tali. He's definitely taking it hard because of what happened back at the Collector Satellite."

She dipped her head slightly acknowledging the situation, "And I would be the exact same way Jack. It's just a Quarian thing."

Jack got a little frustrated by that, "Except for the fact that he didn't really do any of this! Leng sent the signal and the Reapers are the ones doing all of the killing."

Tali had a sympathetic edge to her voice, "He knows that logically, he's just decided to take on all that responsibility. Jack, your only going to push him away if you keep that tone. You need to help him through it, not try to pretend it isn't happening. Because all he has to do is look outside the viewport to know that isn't true."

He definitely had a problem with that, "So I should just let him carry the deaths of millions around even though he shouldn't? That doesn't seem healthy to me Tali."

She kept her patient tone with a slight tilt of her head, "I didn't say it was healthy. He has to be the one to decide it's too much weight to carry. He has a part in this just like we all do, he just has to be the one to let his part go."

Jack bit his lower lip more than a little irritated with Quarian culture at the moment, "Thanks for the advice but I don't think I should just say nothing and pretend he isn't hurting." He made a few strides towards the elevator glancing towards Jacob, "Make sure we're taking the closest route to the Citadel as possible with the pilot, we need to get there before the Reapers do."

She meant well with the suggestion knowing Quarian beliefs more than he did, Jack just knew Kal enough to know that wasn't a good idea. The last time Kal was left alone with his grief over something, he ended up becoming one of the most dangerous mercenaries in the Terminus Systems only to get almost killed. He couldn't afford Kal getting suicidal again, he needed Kal by his side. Jack had to have reminders that there still could be something after this for the two of them. Otherwise, it was extremely tempting at least right now to give up fighting given the scope of the problem. It was true he still had hope Rael was going to come up with a plan, Jack just didn't know if they were ever going to be able to find him in all of the chaos.

Tali folded her arms starting to head to the drive core, "You know I don't mean just throw him to the Varren. If your not going to listen to me, I'm going to make sure we're ready to make the FTL jump."

Jacob had a sly smile on his face, "Will do Commander. I appreciate you wanting to stay in your prison attire but, seeing as your no longer going to get killed today, I think it would be a good idea to get the cuffs off of you." He shook the keys in his hand to make a point.

He silently went back towards Jacob not knowing what to say to him now. I'm sorry didn't seem to be appropriate due to the fact that literal death was at the heart of their problems. Sure he couldn't stop the Batarians from burning a significant portion of his face, however, he could have stopped himself from firing that weapon at the Einstein. If the roles were reversed, how would he have reacted to Jacob appearing to get away with his crimes after just six months? Maybe Ashley wasn't going to be the only one to request a transfer to somewhere else. Despite working well together previously, he had a feeling he was going to be just as much trouble as Ashley without a superior telling him he had to be friendly. Unlike Ashley who just had verbal disagreements with him, the two of them actually had legitimate reasons not to want to work together.

Jacob started unhooking the cuffs while huffing softly, "I know what your going to say but, just let me tell you what I said when we were going to fight the Collectors. The shit going on all around us is too big to worry about our past. It can wait until after you save the galaxy for a third time."

Jack smirked back to him, "I don't think that's exactly what you said last time... I appreciate it though Jacob. If you want a posting somewhere else for whatever reason, I'll be happy to put in a good word for you, no questions asked."

Jacob's facial scars twisted somewhat as he considered that, "Thanks for the offer Commander, if it's all the same to you I think I'll stay. I feel safer fighting with someone who at least actually knows how to deal with the Reapers up close."

Jack rubbed his wrists now that he was free of the cuffs, "Welcome back aboard Jacob, I would ask for the tour but right now I need to make sure Kal is ok."

A very familiar voice came through the intercom, "You know everything is back to normal on the Normandy when you can hear combinations of yelling and forgiving each other. Really warms the heart Commander."

Jack laughed fairly hard from that statement, it was so true wasn't it? "Joker? That really you?"

Joker's cheery voice was pretty infectious, "Alive and still wishing Alliance regulations let me have a microwave up here. Got an emergency transmission from Admiral Hackett for you."

Jack raised an eyebrow at the ceiling out of curiosity, "Joker you know that the Reapers are jamming communications outside the Sol system right? Whatever your hearing is probably old transmissions or a trap."

To his surprise EDI's voice replied, "While that is technically true, Admiral Hackett isn't using advanced communication methods. He has strapped the message to several exploration probes presumedly firing them through a Mass Relay. Think of a message in a bottle. It is a unique solution to getting around a communications black out but a slow one. We will not be able to respond in real time."

Hearing EDI's voice again gave him several questions not related to the transmission but he trusted Joker, "Alright, if you think it's actually Hackett patch it through to my omni tool."

Admiral Hackett's face flickered in and out making it hard to focus, "Normandy...we'v... sustained heavy losses...force was overwhelming... There's no way we can defeat them conventionally...I need you... iance outpost on Mars... ore we lose control of the system...been researching the Prothean Archives with Dr. T'Soni...found a way to stop the Reapers...in contact soon."

His heart was pounding because of the implications of what he had just heard. When Liara left the Normandy six months ago, she told them that the previous Yahg Shadow Broker was obsessed with the Mars Archives. Supposedly, inside the Prothean ruins was a key to access other Prothean vaults across the galaxy. He agreed with Admiral Hackett that they couldn't win this war the old fashioned way, he just didn't know if Liara had the answer. Even if she had the key it was going to be easier to wrap everyone's head around Raels self destruct plan than whatever Liara found. At the same time, if Rael, Legion, and Saren met their end in the Perseus Veil what choice did he have? A potentially hard to explain option was a lot better than no option at all. There was also the Citadel's safety to consider. Did Liara's life matter more than that of all the innocent people on the Citadel? Were the Reapers already there making his choice irrelevant?

Jack took a moment to think pacing around the cargo hold, "EDI, do we know how long it would take the Reapers to reach the Citadel?"

The AI's voice was as monotone as always, "Without long range communications I am unable to determine their progress through the Milky Way. However, I think it is a safe assumption Admiral Hackett took the Citadel into account when sending this probe to us. He may have used the same technique to warn them of the incoming danger."

None of his options had an easy answer, he just had to make a decision, "Joker, set a course for the Mars Archives. We might need a plan B."

It worried him Joker sounded serious for once, "Aye aye Commander. Since we want to blend in with the other Reapers in the system we're going to have to match their speeds. And you know, because they're killing everything that moves right now it's kind of slow. Long story short, ETA three hours."

His first concern was Liara's safety given the circumstances. Could she survive for three more hours or were they going to find a body in the middle of ashes? Jack was tempted to tell Joker to speed up yet he knew blowing the stealth advantage they had against the Reapers now was a bad idea. If the Reapers were going just as slow as they were to make sure they didn't miss anything, Liara and probably the Citadel had a chance of being saved. In the meantime, Jack took the elevator up to his old cabin to see what Kal was up to. While Tali's advice was still ringing around in his head, he was probably going to ignore most of it. Kal at least needed to understand Aaron Bowman's death wasn't because of him.

Everytime Jack returned to this cabin it seemed to be tweaked in some way. Leng had filled the fishtank with water and fish, maybe as a way to taunt him. Anderson on the other hand had removed the tank entirely replacing it with a large vid screen. He had never known Anderson as someone who cared about consuming popular entertainment so what was that doing there? The only thing he could think of was that it was a big enough screen to properly attend military briefings across the galaxy. Jack didn't really believe him when he said some of them had been listening to his warnings, until now. The fact that he had gone to so much trouble to retrofit the Normandy instead of just scrapping it indicated he was getting ready for a war. His heart sank when his eyes landed on their bed, the Quarian blanket that solidified their marriage in Quarian culture was gone.

Kal was banging his wrists against the bed post trying to get the cuffs off, "Stupid kriffing bosh'tet! Just come off already!"

Jack carefully touched the back of his shoulder while shaking the keys Jacob gave him, "I think these might be a better idea than destroying the bed."

Kal relaxed just a little turning around to face him, "Thanks, I just needed a minute to vent alone. Is everyone else doing ok?"

He frowned ever so slightly trying to sound optimistic, "About as well as anyone could be doing given the circumstances. Any chance that venting of yours involved ripping our blanket off the bed to hide it from me?"

Kal let the cuffs thud on the floor standing in front of him, "No it wasn't here when I got here. My guess is it's in some warehouse back on Earth which ha. Never going to get that now."

Jack wrapped his muscular arms around the Quarian in a light hug, "I'm sorry Kal, I know that meant a lot to you. To be official."

Kal was a little distant with his voice despite leaning in to hug him tighter, "It was just a blanket Jack. We weren't going to be able to use it to get rid of my exile anyways so it doesn't really matter now. I don't know if I'd even want to try to use it. I don't deserve to be a part of Quarian society at this point."

Jack used one of his hands to cup the side of Kal's helmet forcing them to look at each other, "You never deserved to be exiled in the first place Kal. And even now you deserve to go back. The Reapers being here isn't your fault, you did something for our family. Aren't we supposed to protect the ones we love? The vulnerable?"

Kal started with an angry tone only to then deflate, "I don't... Have I ever told you that you have the most beautiful eyes in the whole galaxy?"

He was about to say he didn't think they were that special until Kal's warm, soft, purple lips pressed against his for the first time in more than six months. Jack seriously wanted to have the discussion with Kal but, there was no way he was going to interrupt the friction between their lips. It started out slow with the two of them allowing their lips to tenderly explore each other with gentle rubs feeling the shared texture. Soon enough though, Kal grew impatient pushing his thick, sweet, soft tongue into Jack's mouth for access. Jack happily opened his mouth swirling his own tongue around it quickly. The taste that their shared saliva created was so familiar yet had faded from so long apart. All of their arguments seemed so stupid now that they were kissing again.

His hands however were far more greedy in the way they explored Kal's body. Even with the tight environmental suit on, Jack got a good feeling of Kal's muscles no matter where he touched him. There was no way he would say this out loud but he could tell that in the six months they had effectively been apart, Kal had gained a few pounds. It was perfectly understandable given the fact that the biggest exercise he got was walking back and forth to the trial. He would also be lying if he said he wasn't a fan of the slight weight gain. His fingers had something to sink into while also having plenty of muscles to grope and tease. To be honest though, Kal could turn into a puddle and as long as he was happy he would be too. Nothing was going to change the fact that he loved Kal more than anything else.

Jack reluctantly broke the third or fourth kiss through the mouthpiece just so that he could help Kal get his helmet off, "I would say that honor belongs to you but I don't want to fight right now."

Without another word, Jack leaned forward to kiss along Kal's now exposed neck. Despite only having three hours until their next mission, Jack took his time with each kiss letting his own tongue twist in tender, snail like, lazy circles around whatever he could feel. They would rush into armor later if they had to, after so much time apart physically and emotionally, they needed this. His slow patience was rewarded with Kal yanking off his gloves so that his creamy soft three fingered hand could slip right under Jack's waistband to grope his muscular ass cheek. Jack nipped the flesh on Kal's collarbone teasingly in a mocking attempt to punish him for the grope. He let his own hands explore Kal a little more urgently looking for suit seals since the Quarian had just decided to start tugging his prison uniform off.

Kal's deep, husky, needy voice sent a shiver down his spine when he whispered right into his ear, "I want you Jack, now."

The teasing was going to come to a dead stop with that kind of request so he merely pushed him on to the bed. By the time he was able to get the last of his prison uniform off, Kal had already pulled his bottoms down and was rolling over for him. Jack was tempted to tease him with the fact that he was the only one naked but, they did only technically have three hours and taking off a real Quarian suit designed for marines instead of exiles took a lot longer to remove. He was also silenced by Kal's large, round, thick, doughy ass cheeks staring at him invitingly. Having the sudden feeling they had no time to waste, he pounced on the bed wrapping both of his arms around Kal's stomach to keep him on all fours. Usually Jack was the more gentle lover between the two of them, after so much time without each other though he just wanted to go at it.

He was panting in Kal's ear when he spoke with a grunt, "You ask and you shall receive."

Before Kal could protest about it taking any longer, Jack rolled his hips forward thrusting into him. He didn't have the biggest length in the world yet it was an extremely tight fit entering Kal. Even just shifting to get more comfortable made his bare tip dragging against Kal stretching him a little. Kal's arms wobbled with a moan of encouragement. He took that as a signal roughly pushing the rest of his shaft into Kal until his balls smacked against his singular heavy orb. Again, normally Jack would have waited a few seconds for Kal to get adjusted to the new pressure except the noises Kal was making told him differently. In an instant he rolled all the way backwards until his tip was just barely inside before slamming forward again. The rhythm he was starting to set of ins and outs wasn't necessarily fast, however, he had a feeling the strength behind each thrust was going to make up for that.

Kal's breathing was already heavy when he struggled to say, "My hands are a little busy...if you could just touch me...that would be great."

Jack remembered their first time together when Kal synchronized stroking him off with thrusting into him and wanted to repeat that. He might not have had the concentration to time it just right but as soon as his five fingers did their best to wrap around his very thick hard as a rock base, Kal was a moaning mess. It had been so long since he had heard Kal this happy that it made his own shaft throbb inside of him. For just a few minutes they could forget the galaxy was falling down around them and focus on what really mattered. He couldn't focus on getting the timing exactly right so he decided to alternate between thrusting and stroking at roughly the same intervals.

His tip let out a burst of pre making them both moan at the same time. Due to the fact that he had already been thrusting as hard as he could pretty early on, the only thing he could do was go faster. Unfortunately, since they had already been going at it for awhile his rhythm didn't gradually increase with the mood of the moment. Jack felt like tonight it was actually a race to the finish line of their shared excitement. Having been quite sometime since either one of them did this, it didn't take them long to see their shared peak just on the horizon. Wanting Kal to release first, Jack's hand slid down to Kal's base so that he could fondle their trio of balls. That did the trick and with a shout both of them were releasing.

Kal took a gasping satisfied sigh before just relaxing into his grip, "You know...I'm kind of glad we don't have the blanket right now.. Avoids having to put it in the laundry with extra explanation required."

Jack smirked deciding to joke around with him, "Oh so that's why they hang them up as a door instead of putting it on the bed... I didn't know Quarians were so messy."

Kal twisted around to elbow him playfully, "Shut up you bosh'tet!"

It might not have been the serious conversation Jack thought they were going to have although it was what they needed right now. Whatever was waiting for them on Mars, they were ready to face it together.


	5. Chapter 4: The Boiling Point

Chapter 4: The Boiling Point

Despite the Normandy feeling even more like an empty shell than when the Collectors attacked, Jack was more than a little impressed with the new armory. Having obviously taken inspiration from Thane's old room he could see everything from pistols to rocket launchers. The crown jewel though had to be the new set of N7 Onyx armor waiting for him. Since it was suspiciously his size, he couldn't stop from wondering if Anderson was always intending on having him in this fight. Why else would the armor be here that also fit him like a glove? The next logical question was what would Anderson have done if the Reapers hadn't attacked the same day as his execution? Perhaps it was just wishful thinking on the Admirals part, Jack couldn't picture him interfering with the final outcome of the trial. He decided it didn't really matter why the armor was here. If they managed to save Anderson though he'd thank him for it.

Ashley stood right next to him getting several weapons for herself while looking over at Kal, "Been awhile red, how are things holding up?"

Kal loaded his shotgun before strapping it to his back, "If your worried I'm rusty from all the time off, don't be. I've been doing this way too long to forget how everything works."

"Fair enough." Ashley said bluntly seemingly turned off by the cold shoulder.

Jack glanced towards Jacob after making sure his own weapons were ready, "You sure you'll be able to fly the Kodiak? I'm sure someone else could do it for us remotely."

He wasn't usually so vague but, if there were other crew members around he didn't want to suggest EDI by name. EDI could certainly get them there faster than Jacob ever would except it would reveal her to be an AI which were illegal in Council Space. His personal ground team would never say anything given how many situations she saved them in with their battle against the Collectors. Jack just didn't know the rest of the limited support crew yet to know if he could throw that kind of information around without it getting back to the Citadel. Sure they were in a war for their lives, yet the Council was most likely too set in tradition to let that go. Regardless, Joker took a huge risk smuggling her on to the crew and assumedly pretending she was a VI so it would be best if he respected that decision.

Jacob gave him a knowing smile only to bow his head in the affirmative, "I may have only gotten a few lessons from our new designated Kodiak pilot but I'm not an idiot. We'll make it in and out of the base no problem."

Jack tilted his head curiously, "If we have another pilot just for the Kodiak why aren't we using them now?"

Ashley spoke for him, "When everything went to shit the crew was busy celebrating the last finishing touches to the retrofit..on the Citadel. If it's still in one piece when we get there you'll probably have a full crew willing to volunteer to help."

EDI's signature orb appeared next to her on one of the wall tracks, "Like I told Shepard earlier, Admiral Hackett would not send us here first if he believed the Citadel was in immediate danger. Either they have already seen the threat and are acting accordingly, or the Reapers haven't moved towards the system."

Kal had a sarcastic tone as he waited for the three of them at the door, "Knowing the Council as well as we do, it's probably the latter."

The statement at least got a little chuckle out of them as they made their way to the cargo hold where the Kodiak was waiting. He was honestly surprised Ashley agreed to come with them on this mission at all after their argument. She had never bonded with Liara and this hopefully just involved picking her up from a friendly base. Ashley obviously didn't come just to be under his command due to their contentious history. There was always the possibility she just didn't want to feel useless on the ship. After all the one thing Ashley couldn't stand was being called a coward because of her dad's decision on Shanxi. Jack hoped that even a short mission like this would help her understand he wasn't the terrorist she thought he was just wanting to stop the Reapers.

Tali was waiting for them next to the door to the drive core, "I'm sorry I'm not going down with you. I just can't risk Des getting hurt if something happens."

Jack blinked stopping to smile at her, "Tali we didn't expect you to come with us."

Kal added in a soft yet stubborn tone, "We wouldn't let you even if you wanted to. The baby comes first with you, do you understand?"

Tali crossed her arms a little irritated with both of them, "I don't need you two to worry I'm going to do something stupid. I'm not twelve. I'll make sure the FTL drive is ready for any crazy maneuvers Joker might need to do when you get back."

Jacob opened the doors to the Kodiak cracking his knuckles, "I know Steve isn't flying you today baby. Just be nice." He glanced at everyone else, "I don't know how much time we have so we better go now."

Jack couldn't really relax in his chair at the back of the Kodiak. The last time he had been on one of these things he had been dooming the entire Batarian population to death. Just being inside this thing gave him flashes of killing guards, fighting Feron, being unable to save Thane and Kate. He didn't have time for an anxiety attack right now, even if Liara was fine he was going to have to focus on what she found. Out of all the missions he had been a part of, after everything he had seen in this fight, Arahoht was going to be the mission that haunted him? He knew for a fact that he had seen far worse things done to a person just in his fight with Saren alone. It didn't make a lot of sense this was the mission to trigger him so negatively. The only thing he could think of was that no other mission had ever been that damaging to an entire civilization. Now wasn't the time to think about it, he could see the Archives.

Having been familiar with Prothean architecture for the past three years, he could now see where the Alliance base structure ended and the Prothean building began. The Alliance section was a cluster of buildings surrounding a large sinkhole, they had round edges generally seeming well cared for if not a little dusty. At the center of each building Jack could see a thin line that had to be a bridge connecting it to the central tower. Even though most of the tower had somehow collapsed into the Martian sands, he could see the tall geometric top of the tower. As on Feros, he had to wonder if this type of building had been a storage facility, or, somewhere to house weapons. Since Liara was claiming that she found a way to defeat the Reapers, a weapon was probably more likely. His only sticking point was the fact that they hadn't seen a trace of such a weapon at any of the other bases. Unless it was the Thorian? The question then became if it was Thorian, how did Liara find that out on Mars?

Jacob slowed down as they approached the base, "This is Jacob Taylor designation N5 requesting to land at any available docking station. I have a SPECTRE aboard."

Silence followed causing Ashley to frown, "Maybe they don't believe you. Commander you could always give it a shot."

Joker spoke up through the comm, "I don't know how much longer I'd be bothering to ask nicely. I've been trying to reach Mars on all secure channels, no one's answering. Like it's a ghost town."

Jack, Kal, and Jacob shared the same worried expression knowing that phrase all too well. "Any sign of Reaper activity Joker?"

EDI pulled up schematics for the base with everything looking green, "Negative I am not detecting any known Reaper, or Collector, energy signatures in the area. Furthermore, the base appears still to be online. It's possible the inhabitants were evacuated to the lower levels and are unable to open a dock."

While he was definitely relieved they weren't going to have to deal with the Reapers, something wasn't right about this. If Hackett's message was genuine like EDI said, they should be expecting them. In fact, Liara should be waiting for them at a landing pad ready to show them what she found. What did it mean that no one was answering them at all? His first concern was that the Reapers had evolved to be able to avoid detection yet EDI hadn't seen anything down there that was out of the ordinary. He could see the scan with his own eyes only identifying Human signatures throughout the base. Her scan only brought about more questions. Why weren't the people inside responding to them at all? Jack increasingly had a bad feeling about this, they had to keep going though despite the possibility of a trap. Just like on Feros, the chance at getting Prothean help from beyond the grave was too good to pass up.

He tried not to show too much of what he was thinking to Jacob, "This going to be a problem?"

Jacob rolled his neck around gripping the controls tighter, "I'm going to have to land at a flat place further away than I'd like. Otherwise no, everything is going to be fine."

EDI reassured them when she declared, "I will continue to monitor Reaper signatures and inform you when they are getting too close to the base. You may want to disable any non necessary power while your there to buy more time away from detection."

"We'll keep that in mind, Joker keep the engines warm. If this is a trap I'll want to get out of here as soon as possible." Jack admitted pacing around the shuttle while it started to land.

Joker gave them a nervous laugh, "You don't have to tell me twice Commander. I'll just be here in the middle of a cloud of giant floating death hands."

He cut the channel when EDI started talking to Joker, "We'll be fine Jeff, as long as you stay on this ship you could become the last living Human in the galaxy."

Ashley stood up marching towards the door, "So, what do you think is happening down here?"

The question itself wasn't much of a problem, he was wondering about the same thing. What was a problem was the tone in which she asked it. He had heard the same tone from the prosecutors during his trial accusing him of everything they could think of. Did Ashley believe he had something to do with the Archives not responding to them? They had just been on the way here for the past several hours. What kind of plan could he have possibly put into motion from his quarters with everything going on right now? Was she actually that paranoid to not be able to think clearly at all? Or was this just another convenient excuse to start fighting again? Ashley accompanying them on any kind of mission was exhausting and not because she worked better than the rest of them. Maybe it was a good idea just to let her transfer to wherever she wanted instead of apologizing due to their argument on the ship. They would probably both be happier.

Kal chose to have an innocent interpretation of the question, "Could be their communications are down because of the Reapers in orbit, or there was a mutiny over what to do with whatever Liara found."

Jack raised an eyebrow skeptically, "What makes you think mutiny?"

Kal stood between him and Ashley at the door, "According to EDI's scans there's only Humans inside meaning they weren't attacked. Why else wouldn't they answer our call if everything was going ok in there?"

Ashley huffed before he could respond, "It's true she only found Humans but, her scan told us nothing about who they might work for."

After she said that his understanding of what she was beating around the bush about became clear. She was implying that Cerberus was involved with whatever was going on here for their benefit. On the surface, he didn't entirely blame her for that assumption given their history. Six months ago on Illium, Jack and Kal had unintentionally escaped Ashley's custody to work with Cerberus again. The difference now was the fact that he doubted Miranda could pull anything like this off without the Normandy or the Cerberus crew she had saved. Plus, as far as he knew he was still on the same page with her on the need to stop the Reapers. There was no reason for her to attack this base. Lazarus was another story but, Leng wouldn't want to rescue him if he was here.

Jacob landed the ship only to quickly start opening the door, "We've got a massive sand storm headed our way. My guess is we have half an hour, tops before it hits. After that, we're gonna have difficulty keeping up comms with the ship."

As the door started opening Jack realized Jacob wasn't kidding. Not too far on the horizon he could see a massive cloud of dust the size of several Reapers stacked on top of each other slowly making it's way towards them. Jack was tempted to call off the mission to wait for it to pass, unfortunately, Liara might not have that kind of time. Either the actual Reapers were going to find the base to attack it, or whatever was happening inside that base was going to get her killed. They were just going to have to move quickly while making sure Liara didn't go on too many scientific rants. Assuming Ashley was sort of on the right track with the Lazarus angle, they needed to make sure they didn't lose contact with the Normandy.

Ashley whistled in awe of the storm while searching the improvised landing zone for any threats, "Damn... I've watched plenty of nature documentaries but that's huge. Looks a lot bigger in person."

Jacob shrugged nonchalantly as he pointed them in the direction of the base, "I've seen worse. It'll probably only last a few minutes with that size."

Kal had a more skeptical tone glancing over his shoulder at it, "I'm glad you're so optimistic. All that sand could be bury us in here for a few years."

Jacob shook his head with a little chuckle, "It's not optimism Kal, my dad was stationed here before the Einstein. I'd hear all about the storms whenever he was allowed to send me messages. I'm more worried about the war back on Earth. Or the fact that nobody here is reporting in."

"All we can do is make sure we have a plan to stop them before it's too late. Eyes sharp everyone, we don't know what we're dealing with yet." Jack reminded them wanting the focus to be off of Earth right now.

He didn't really know why Jacob landed so far away from the base until they went around the next corner. The surface of Mars was litered with sharp rocks that could probably puncture the hull of the Kodiak if they landed on it wrong. Jack had to assume the same could be said for his armored boots so it was important they stayed on the trail the Alliance must've made for guests. Other than the howling wind in the distance because of the storm, it was strangely quiet. No rovers were driving around, no scientist teams were digging up something Prothean related, just silence. His gut was telling him the similarities between this and somewhere like Freedom's Progress were growing too strong to ignore. They thought they had defeated all of the Collectors when they destroyed the satellite beyond the Omega-4 Relay but, what if they were wrong? What if the Reapers kept some with them as a contingency plan? He might need to worry about finding Mordin faster than he thought.

When they made another turn down the twisting path, Jack's heart stopped. A few feet in front of them was a single body laying on the ground. What was worse was the fact that even from here he could see the individual was wearing Alliance colors. At least this most likely ruled out the possibility of Collector intervention, they wouldn't have left organic material go to waste like that. However, just because he could rule something out didn't mean he suddenly had the answer to what was going on here. Upon getting closer Jack had no idea what might have killed the soldier. If the context was different, he would've just thought the man was sleeping on duty. Even the Batarian Husk weaponry had left a mark.

Ashley carefully approached the body before kneeling in front of him, "Sergeant Reeves." She said yanking off dog tags, "Doesn't feel like he put up a fight. We might be dealing with snipers."

Kal knelt down next to her after blood oozed out of the bodies neck, "Not a sniper, his throat was slashed."

Jack held back a groan staring at Kal. They both knew exactly what that meant, at the very least Phantom Knights were here. What did Lazarus want with the Mars Archives now? Leng had always been motivated by getting revenge on him for some unknown reason, the Reapers had always just been window dressing to that. Since it was a pretty good guess that Leng didn't get over it in six months, the logical conclusion was he was here just because he knew Jack was going to be here. How though? He was positive Admiral Hackett wasn't a mole but, the tip probably couldn't have come from anywhere else. Unless he told the other Joint Chiefs but, that gave him the same problem. No one governing the Alliance would work with terrorists like Lazarus. This had to just be a very convenient coincidence.

Kal stood up loading his shotgun with a click, "If he's here I'm going to be the one to kill him."

The rage already bubbling inside Kal was going to be a problem. He understood it perfectly, Kal blamed Leng for the Collector Satellite, for Asteroid X99, and for the deaths of everyone they had lost so far. Jack shared that same hatred of the man. Now just wasn't the time to let that anger transform their goal here into single minded tunnel vision. Depending on whether or not Leng was here for them, that body could've just been left there to get under their skin. Leng was craving a rematch between the three of them and it was a bad idea to give him what he wanted. Getting that through to Kal though was going to be a challenge. From the way he was storming forward, Jack could see he was already seeing red on the warpath. This was Leng's turf and he appeared to have a plan just for them.

He made sure to grab Kal's arm to stop him, "That is not our mission. We're going to find Liara and get out, that's it."

Kal's voice was full of anger, "How many more times are we going to let him do whatever the fuck he wants before we actually do something about it? Does he have to kill three billion? How about six?"

Ashley threw her hands up in the air with frustration, "Who in the hell are we talking about?!"

Jacob was dismissive of the argument walking past them, "It doesn't matter because these two are jumping to conclusions like always. There should be more sentries around. Hopefully, they can tell us what the hell's going on here."

A hail of gunfire made the four of them dash for cover behind several of the larger sharp boulders. In the distance Jack could see multiple figures in white, black, and yellow. So much for jumping to conclusions, those were the colors of Cerberus and presumedly now Lazarus. What were they doing here when they could be fighting for Earth? Their entire mission was supposedly the betterment of Humanity, how was attacking the Archives get them closer to that? Perhaps he was asking too many logical questions. With a mad man like Leng running the show, he constantly had to question what was strategy and what was just impulse. Just being around him for about a week Jack could tell he bounced between the two on a regular basis.

Staring straight down the scope of his assault rifle, Jack was able to take out two fully armored soldiers with ease. He actually found it extremely bizzare how easy the four of them were killing the troopers. While Kal kept one of the troopers behind cover with continuous fire, Jack held his attention on the way they moved. They certainly looked Human wearing a set of palladium armor from head to toe yet something wasn't quite right. When one of the troopers swung around out of cover to fire, he saw the movement wasn't smooth. It was like all of them had stiff joints that could only bend at certain angles. His suspicions were only raised when sparks came flying off one of the soldiers he clipped in the shoulder. These weren't Humans were they? Had Leng just sent a bunch of scarecrows just to slow them down?

The fighting only intensified as they started getting closer to the base. With no more cover for them to hide behind, they were going to have to rely on speed to get them to safety. Luckily, these soldiers didn't have the best aim always firing just where one of them used to be. He slid along the ground to avoid one of them getting a headshot on him only to fire at their center. Once again sparks went everywhere blinding him for a split second. In that time a Phantom Knight came out of cloak jumping over the collapsing troopers body to stab him. He crossed both of his wrists above his head catching the sword causing them to roll along the ground. Just as the two of them were almost at the craters edge, Kal physically picked the Phantom up off the ground only to slam them back down.

Kal kicked the assassin on to their back and at the same time aimed his shotgun for their head, "You can tell your boss we're coming for him."

Ashley winced as the shot went off, "Was that really necessary? We should have kept him alive so we could question him. You know, find out what they're doing here?"

Kal picked the Phantom's sword up off the ground, "Does it really matter why they're here? They obviously don't have anything good planned for us."

Ashley had a loud tone, "I don't know. I think we'd all want to know what Cerberus is doing here on Mars?"

Jack knew he had to step in, "It's Lazarus, Cerberus doesn't have the kind of resources to pull off this kind of attack. And it's a good question that we don't have time for right now."

Ashley had a mocking tone, "Oh I'm sorry, I confused the two terrorist organizations you've had dealings with. You really expect me to believe you don't know anything about what's going on here?" She pointed to Kal, "Especially after that display? Shepard help me out here. We've a got a shadowy terrorist organization infiltrating one of our top research facilities. The same day you come to visit, I think that warrants a bit of suspicion. I need a straight answer. Do you know anything about this? What is Lazarus doing here?"

Kal shook his head, "I'm done explaining myself to someone that thinks we're working with terrorists from a jail cell. We don't have time for this so we can either fight right now or keep moving."

Ashley still sounded furious, "You already escaped with them once on Illium, for god's sake. How am I not supposed to think you might be trying to do that again? If you two would just talk to me for once maybe I'd understand."

Despite all the yelling, Jack could sympathize with her perspective to a degree. They were asking her to trust them when that trust had been broken multiple times previously. This time however, her concern was just so impractical he didn't know what was the best way to address it. The two of them had been in jail, not even being able to talk to each other, for the past six months. Logistically how did Ashley think they had communicated with Lazarus to supposedly rescue them? Their original plan was to go to the Citadel so it wasn't as if it could have been a long time in the making. He could try to explain the reasoning on why he fought the Collectors with Cerberus' help but that kind of conversation was going to take time they just didn't have. Liara had to come first right now whether she liked it or not.

He took a calming breath knowing the temperature between them needed to go down a lot, "I'm only going to say this once, I didn't work for them. I worked with them, and I don't anymore. You want to hate Lazarus, go right ahead... I do too. We all have our reasons to hate them. But I am done explaining myself to you in the middle of a mission. Are we clear?"

Ashley was about to say something when the loud groaning sound of the base door opening cut her off. None of them were anywhere near the door meaning someone was ambushing them from the inside. Sure enough, a squad of seven or more Lazarus troopers lined themselves up at the entrance to the door preparing to shoot at them. The four of them separated into two groups on either side of the door shooting back inside. Ashley and Kal were on the other side of the wide cargo door from them but, he was relieved to see they seemed to be fighting together just fine. When one of them needed to reload, the other was providing cover fire through the entrance. Jack was finding these troopers harder to eliminate due to their thicker palladium armor. Having worked so well for him in his time with Cerberus, he could understand why they would mass produce it.

Knowing they were just going to waste all of their ammo in a back and forth with them, Jack shouted over the noise, "Kal, grenade. Now!"

Kal was busy getting it off of his belt when a wave of biotic energy swept through the Lazarus soldiers crushing them into a wall, "Or not..." The Quarian mumbled putting the grenade back where it was.

Liara approached the door breathing hard, "Jack, Kal, I'm glad your here. Come on, we don't have much time."

He let his shoulders relax just a little following her inside. It was time to find out what she and Admiral Hackett thought was more important than warning the Citadel that the Reapers were coming.


	6. Chapter 5: Keys To The Castle

Notes: Happy New Years everyone! Apologies for the late upload, I've started a Star Wars fic that has grabbed my attention. May be bouncing weekly chapters between the two fics for awhile.

Chapter 5: Keys to the Castle

Liara glanced over to them over her shoulder, "I'll explain everything in a moment, it just isn't safe out here." She pointed towards an elevator continuing to walk in that direction.

Jack followed her deeper into the base having no idea where they were going. They passed several science Makos as well as the more industrial Nomads on their way to the elevator. The likelihood of finding someone else alive in the base was thin if no one else was here trying to use the vehicles to escape. With the sandstorm slowly making it's way towards the base, he didn't really feel comfortable with the direction they were headed in. Did she want to just wait out the storm? Under normal circumstances that might not be a problem but, this wasn't normal. The longer they waited here the more likely the Reapers were to come down on top of them or to attack the Citadel. Since every other world was going to be attacked until all of it's population was eradicated, it was important for the Citadel to remain protected as long as possible. It would be the only place where everyone could form a strategy without worrying about bombs dropping on them constantly.

Jacob sounded slightly frustrated, "Dr. T'Soni, from what I could see there is a category three sandstorm headed this way. We could potentially be in a lot of trouble if there's another one right behind it."

She nodded tapping the button to go up, "I know with Lazarus troops everywhere your just going to have to trust me." A smile met the rest of them, "I'm so glad you made it out ok. I was worried when the news from Admiral Hackett came in. Have they hit Earth hard?"

Ashley was the first to answer rather solemnly, "Yeah, it was difficult to leave."

Liara stared at her for a few seconds, "Ashley, I know your sister was on a trip to New York right now... I'm so sorry."

The door opened and Ashley sighed, "Thanks...wait, how did you know I have a sister and where she is right now?"

A floating blue orb VI he remembered as Glyph was waiting for them in the elevator, "It is the Shadow Broker's job to know the locations of major persons and their families in order to properly blackmail them. Ah, hello other Shadow Brokers! It is a pleasure to see you alive once again, provided my photoreceptors are not damaged."

Jack cleared his throat while stepping into the elevator, great something else to explain. "Good to see you too Glyph."

Ashley tilted her head in confusion, "Am I missing something here?"

Jacob gave her a sympathetic expression, "At this point I just roll with it."

He was about to ask Liara why she was being so secretive about what they were actually doing here only for sparks to start flying out of the ceiling of the elevator. At first he thought it might be an electrical failure since they just started moving, only to see the blade from a saw spinning right above his head. Lazarus had just been waiting for them to get in to an extremely enclosed position before trying to kill them. What they hadn't been counting on was for him and Kal to both start firing their shotguns into the ceiling to eliminate whatever was doing that. Jack had to smile when after the second shot they both fired, the cutting had stopped. His celebration ended when a louder thump hit the elevator and the ceiling started to get peeled back love it was a tin can.

Glyph let out a mechanical shout of terror, "Oh no! The likelihood of survival is 3,720 to 1! I am too young to die!"

Kal looked over at him in a joking tone, "Great. Why do we always have to have AI friends that are addicted to numbers?"

Staring down at them with a singular oval shaped red holographic eye of a mech with the letters 'YMIR' written on it's forehead. He recognized it as the mech he faced on Freedom's Progress, the one that killed all of Tali's squad. Sure enough, a machine gun and rocket launcher materialized in the ceiling space it created. Jack had to quickly shove Kal into the corner so they would avoid getting shreded by the rotating gun. Most of the floor between them became Swiss cheese as they all opened fire on whatever they could see. Even though they were hitting the main optical sensor, a shield appeared to consistently block their bullets. His heart was starting to race with the concern that the rocket launcher was going to fire and turn them all to dust. Liara's biotics wrapped around the head and ripped it off before it could fire.

She slid to a sitting position catching her breath, "I thought we would be safe in here to talk without them monitoring us. I guess I was wrong."

Glyph drifted over to her nudging her up like a pet would, "Ms. Shadow Broker, you may want to stop using biotics for the time being. At this rate you might start to have nose bleeds."

Liara brushed him away dismissively, "I know my limits Glyph, thank you for reminding me though."

Kal looked through the hole making sure nothing else was jumping down the shaft to meet them, "If you've lost the base already I can guarantee you they have everything under surveillance. Just say what you have to say and assume they already know it because they're here."

Liara dusted her lab coat off standing back up, "Your right, I apologize for the secrecy. While searching for the key to the Prothean vaults across the galaxy, I've found references to a Prothean device. One that could wipe out the Reapers."

Hackett had implied as much in his message, even with Liara saying it though, Jack still had major reservations about it. The biggest one was due to the fact that the Protheans weren't here right now, how could she be so sure this device worked? Prothean scientists must have merely theorized the device would work without having the time to test it. Technically Rael's plan was no better but, he felt more confidence that it could work based on their understanding of VI's. Should they really be trying two different strategies at once when both inevitably required a lot of resources? His other problem with this plan was that Victory on Ilos hadn't mentioned any kind of device capable of defeating Reapers. Why wouldn't he have brought it up when his entire purpose revolved around preparing future cycles to stop them. He trusted Liara wasn't misleading them on purpose, he just thought she might be overly optimistic about a small amount of data.

"Liara, we already have a plan in motion to stop them. Vague references to something isn't really a good idea to chase down." His tone was just a little impatient with her.

Her gaze flicked over each of them, "Then you've been in contact with Saren? Or even Garrus?"

Kal's helmet turned between the two of them, "No..we just got out of jail though. I think giving it more than three hours is a good idea before we give up on them."

Liara turned her attention to the door to the elevator knowing they were almost there, "Neither have I, Glyph has been monitoring all the communication systems he can get his hands on so to speak. No ones even mentioned any of them, in six months. I just think it is a good idea to have a back up plan in case they didn't make it."

Glyph seemed proud of himself, "All 9.9 quadrillion of them to be exact! It is not looking good for your Turian friends."

Jack sighed knowing that was a bad sign since she knew where Ashley's sister was when he didn't even know she existed, "Your probably right. I guess I'm struggling with the fact that we've been here in the Archives for a century. Why are we just finding out about this device now?"

She had always enjoyed going into lengthy science discussions, "Process of elimination, mixed with a little desperation on the Protheans part. It took the Reapers centuries to conquer the Protheans. In that time, the few survivors searched desperately for a way to stop them. The researchers on Ilos tried to cut Sovereign off without thinking the Reapers could have a contingency plan. If my translations are correct, these Protheans found another way, but in the end, they didn't have the resources to follow through with their plan."

Despite not having a good feeling about this plan, Liara had enough confidence in her data that he couldn't argue against it extensively in the moment, "I guess I'll believe it when I see it."

Kal asked the next logical question, "Where do we find this device?"

Liara was about to answer when the elevator door opened revealing a room full of Lazarus soldiers hunkered down behind some tables and chairs. Another horrified scream from Glyph was almost drowned out from all the gunfire between them. Jacob and Ashley were the first to respond spraying covering fire out the door so they could find places to hide not in the open. With the amount of resistance they had already encountered, Jack was starting to wonder how Leng put together this large of a fighting force. The Illusive Man had used him to defeat the Collectors specifically because he didn't have access to a massive army. He couldn't believe Leng was somehow any better than their former leader at convincing people to join their cause. Yet here he was shooting at another dozen of them after their battle outside.

On the bright side, just like before the shoot out was going quicker than he would've expected. While the five of them could smoothly slide between different tables to get better cover, the soldiers movements could best be described as clunky. Maybe the palladium armor was just to heavy on them slowing their aiming to a crawl. Whenever one of them would take a blind shot to get one of the soldiers attention, someone else would be able to take advantage of the trooper still turning in another direction to deliver a finishing blow. The only thing the troopers seemed to be good at was soaking up ammo if you weren't careful firing in the exposed spots. He wondered if the point of these troopers were just to provide obstacles to slow them down so Leng could do whatever he needed to. The assassin wasn't beneath sacrificing his own men just to make them exhausted as he saw first hand on Luna. Jack pinned the last soldier to the back door of the room allowing Kal to sneak up on him and fire a shotgun round directly into his helmet.

The Asari started leading them through the lab as if nothing had just happened, "I know this isn't the most helpful answer but until we acquire the key I'm not going to know where we can find the device for sure. Going on a wild goose chase isn't what I had in mind either so that's why we have to stay to retrieve it."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "So the key is a physical item then? When you left the Normandy we were speculating on whether or not it could be something like a Prothean song."

Liara peeked her head around a corner with her pistol drawn before answering, "I know it seems outlandish but yes the key seems to be a physical item. Since the Alliance team here has been primarily interested in Prothean FTL methods, no one bothered to look through the towers living quarters. I think I found the key in a music box. Unfortunately when Lazarus came the main research team was studying the device I recovered in the towers core."

Ashley rubbed the back of her neck still rather confused, "It's more than we had a minute ago. How do we get there?"

Jacob took the lead in front of her unlocking another door quickly, "From what my dad used to tell me, the Archives are just across the major tramway. Assuming Lazarus hasn't shut it down yet."

As the door was opening, Jacob's head was almost cut clean off by a sword coming through the door. Kal was the first to react drawing the sword he grabbed from the dead Phantom Knight outside fast enough pushing the new Knight backwards. With their swords locked, Jacob was able to use his shotgun to shred his attackers chest sending them to the ground. With their body falling away from the doorway, they could see three more Phantoms waiting for them confidently waiting for them in the narrow hallway. Although the five of them were concentrating fire in their direction, the Phantoms used their armor to move faster avoiding the bullets. In a flash the warriors were pushing them backwards into the room they just came from by kicking Jacob in the nose after running along the wall.

Liara was right behind him barely avoiding a sword strike to the heart. She tried to get a shot off since they were in such close proximity only for the Phantom to send a roundhouse kick to her hand sending the weapon flying into the corner of the room somewhere. Even though she definitely has had more practice to fight in the past three years since he met her, it was obvious Liara was never going to be a good a fighter as the rest of them preferring her research work. Despite having to take his attention off of the Phantom charging at him, Jack tackled the one in front of him that was about to gut Liara. Due to the fact that they were trapped underneath him, Ashley was able to pull off a quick head shot before laying a clip into the one too distracted with almost cutting Jack's leg off.

Jack's heart was still pounding knowing there still was a third Phantom alive until he got to his feet. Kal seemed to be having a private duel with the last of them in the corner. He had no idea Kal was such a proficient swordsman yet he was watching the Quarian match the assassin blow for blow. It was a fast fight with both of them almost getting the fatal strike on the other more than once. Jack desperately wanted to interfere yet because they were moving so fast he was afraid his shooting would only hit Kal. Luckily, the Phantom missed wide causing their sword to get caught in a crack in the wall. Their head was laying on the floor with Kal putting his sword back in one fluid motion.

Liara's gaze bounced between him and Kal for a few seconds before answering, "With the amount of Lazarus troops we've already faced, I have to assume they have full control. When we got word the Reapers hit, Leng and his soldiers arrived soon after. It was a massacre...the scientists here had never prepared for a military engagement."

The five of them attempted to go through the door again now that everything was quiet. His mind could already picture what kind of damage Leng could do having been on the receiving end of it multiple times. Cutting through a base of scientists had to be as easy as taking a walk for the infamous assassin, especially when he had an army behind him. He wasn't looking forward to the inevitable confrontation they were surely about to have. Five against one was good odds on paper but, he had learned a long time ago that underestimating Leng was almost always a fatal mistake. Kal was too emotional, Ashley was upset with him, and Liara wasn't the best close quarters fighter of all time. They were going to have to stick together all the way to the Archives themselves and then back to the ship. Such a skilled killer could find an opportunity if they were separated for just a few minutes. Jack worried his strained relationship with Ashley was going to be a problem but, they didn't have the time to fix it right now.

The room Jacob brought them to appeared to be a lobby of some sort. Chairs were set up along the walls with magazine data pads scattered around for entertainment. Jack assumed this was where scientists would change shifts for the day to get access to the Archives. Against the opposite wall to them was a massive door as well as several windows looking out into Martian airspace. Staring out the window, he could see they were at the edge of the Alliance section of the base with a railway leading to the Prothean tower. Up close Jack got a far better idea of how far the tower must have sunk into this crater. If one of the tram's fell they would be looking at least a two hundred story fall. Not even Liara's biotics combined with his previous power could protect them from that kind of fall, let alone just her own. Was Leng cowardly enough to kill them by just dropping the tram they were on? He would have doubted it before but, he didn't think Lazarus could ever amass this large of an army, anything was possible.

Jacob stopped at one of the security terminals tapping away at it, "Then let me see what we're dealing with before I open the door for a tram. I wouldn't want any of us caught out there during the storm."

Jack glanced around the room half expecting another YMIR mech to jump out at them, "Alright just make it fast, there's not a lot of cover in here for a long fight."

Liara sat down taking their brief stop to relax for a minute, "I'm honestly surprised he hasn't left yet."

Kal had a grim tone watching their backs, "I'm not, he's waiting for us."

Liara had a confused look on her face, "Yes but, how would he know you two would be here now instead of racing towards the Citadel? That's what the rest of the Alliance Navy has to be doing right now."

Kal shrugged innocently even though what he was suggesting was alarming, "The same way Wrex knew what room we were going to be in fast enough for him to come attack us before the Reapers showed up. The Alliance has a mole in the Joint Chiefs feeding Lazarus information about our movements."

Jack wanted to say he was crazy for coming up with that theory but, it wasn't that far out of the realm of possibility. Admiral Kahoku had been doing exactly what Kal described all throughout the Skillyian Blitz up until his death on Luna base. The problem was he couldn't come up with a decent candidate to be working with them this time. Back then Kahoku had no idea what they were capable of but now no one could claim such ignorance. Who among the Joint Chiefs would actively work with terrorists? Mikhailovich was a tempting option but that was just because Jack knew the least about him personally. He couldn't just take that kind of accusastion to Hackett without more substantial evidence.

"What do you think they're after Liara?" He asked knowing it was a good idea to change the subject away from conspiracy theories with Ashley around.

She stared up at him as though the answer was obvious, "They want what I'm here for... what we're all here for."

Ashley put her hands on her hips seemingly skeptical of that explanation, "But if that were true, why attack us? Shepard has never made it a secret that his number one professional priority is defeating the Reapers. Shouldn't we all be on the same side now?"

Liara was choosing her words very carefully, "I think it has to do with a long standing grudge Kai Leng has with Jack..I wouldn't want to speculate any deeper than that when we're still in the middle of a warzone."

Jacob let out a frustrated grunt smacking the terminal, "Bad news, it looks like I'm not going to be able to call a tram to our side. Best I could do is open both sets of doors."

Ashley glanced at him confused, "What good is that going to do?"

At first Jack had to agree with Ashley on this one, opening the doors to see how far they had to go didn't feel like it would solve anything. Perhaps they could wave at Leng from across the gap and hope he would send a tram towards them. Then he looked outside to see that the rail line wasn't entirely kinetic like trams back on Earth these days. These were built around one hundred years ago meaning they had metal magnetic beams from one end of the gap to the other. Normally, Jack would just get the Kodiak to fly them across but with the storm fast approaching, they didn't have the time to run back and forth. There was always the possibility that they would fall to their deaths given how the wind was swaying the line, Jack just had no other options on such short notice. Plus, it wasn't like this was the most dangerous maneuver he had ever accomplished before. He was just going to have to make this work.

Jack stared out the window again, "It would let us walk across the rail line. Jacob, I want you to do it and then get back to the shuttle. Glyph go with him. If the storm beats us to the Archives, I need you covering the exits."

The AI orb sounded excited, "As you order Shadow Broker, this was enough excitement for one solar cycle for me."

"Aye aye Commander, I'll see you on the other side." The man saluted him before marching the way they came."

Liara gulped getting her first glimpse of the track they were going to have to walk along, "Jack, I'm starting to get the feeling you have a love for extremely dangerous heights. This is the second mission we've been on in a row that could lead to our deaths."

Kal stepped forward to the thin, narrow, swaying tram line with more swagger than he felt, "At least we wouldn't be falling forever like on that gas giant. There's definitely a bottom, somewhere down there."

He followed Kal's steps carefully knowing one wrong move could send them to the bottom of the crater. His focus stayed on Kal having the distinct sensation that glancing anywhere else was a bad idea. Looking down would only let his brain process how far he had to fall while staring directly ahead of him would let him see how painfully far they had to walk forward. Kal was something familiar he could stare at and have happy memories. However, curiosity got Jack to turn his head out to the horizon where he saw the sand storm was rapidly approaching. In the time they had spent arguing outside and fighting through the Alliance section of the Archives, the dust cloud appeared to be licking the far edge of the crater. The four of them were going to have to really move if they were going to get inside before the winds knocked them off the rail.

Ashley stunned him by asking a question very calmly, "How'd Lazarus get into the facility anyways Liara?"

A part of him wanted to remind her they needed to hustle only to realize she was trying to distract Liara with conversation, "I was wondering that myself. Even if this is only a science lab, you should still have warnings something was coming."

Liara had a shakey tone and she was practically stepping on his heels, "I...I'm not sure to be honest. One minute we were getting reports of the Reaper invasion... The next, there was chaos. I didn't even realize it was Lazarus at first."

Ashley had to start yelling over the sounds of the wind whipping around them, "Could they be working with the Reapers? Do you think they know about the weapon the Protheans were going to use?"

Kal yelled back even louder so his voice would carry to their rear, "Doubtful, Leng still wants what's best for Humanity. I suppose anything's possible though."

They continued the trip in silence since the wind howling in the distance was getting so loud none of them were going to be able to hear themselves think. Although he had initially been against having a long drawn out conversation as they had one of the most dangerous walks in their lives, it had been a good idea on Ashley's part. Without breaking much of a sweat they were half way across the rail line and making good time. If the four of them could keep up the pace, they were going to be inside the Prothean tower just as the storm hit. It was obviously cutting it close in terms of distance but that just made him feel more strongly that was the right decision. Even though they might have gotten back to the Kodiak right now, they wouldn't have made the return trip to the tower in time. And with Kai Leng doing something inside the tower, they couldn't afford to wait this out.

Jacob's voice whispered in his earpiece from how loud the wind was, "Commander, can you read me?"

Jack shouted back hoping it would be loud enough, "Barely! Storm's causing a lot of interference. What do you need Taylor?"

Jacob chuckled on his end starting to talk louder, "Way to try and break an ear drum Jack. I just wanted you to know I've lost contact with the Normandy. What's y..."

That last part was a little too garbled for him to hear, "I didn't read you Jacob. Repeat?"

Jacob sounded frustrated with the situation, "I was aski..."

The feed cut completely making him bite his lower lip, "Damn it. Looks like we aren't going to get back up until after the storm moves through!"

Liara's voice sounded more panicked than usual, "I hate to be the one that's alarming everyone. It's just that storm is going to be here very soon."

His eyes widened with the discovery it was right on top of them, "Fuck! Run!"

Their careful balancing jog wasn't going to cut it anymore with the sands starting to curl around the tower itself towards them. Any second now the sand was going to hit them with it's full force and no matter how strong armored magnetic boots were, they would fall to their deaths in seconds. His mind was running through all the different choices he could have made instead that would have gotten them here safely. Maybe they should have waited but, there was no telling what Leng could do with even a few extra minutes left to his own devices. Jack was about to yell to Kal that he loved him thinking they were about to get swallowed in Martian sand only to have made it across the finish line. Against all the odds, they made it into the Prothean part of the tower. He looked around to make sure the others had made it seeing Kal, Ashley, and Liara next to him.

Liara was panting heavily as she rushed over to the door controls to seal them inside, "Remind me never to go on one of your adventures when this is all over? I have a feeling you'll still be doing things like this even after we destroy the Reapers."

He just started laughing happy to be alive in the moment, "Your still assuming we'll actually beat them..? I'm in the die trying camp after that."

Liara shook her head still trying to talk over the wind for some reason, "Human philosophers say positive reinforcement can bring positive achievements into your life. In this instance I'm choosing to believe them."

Kal tapped his shoulder not laughing with the rest of them, "Guys eyes up, we have a problem here."

After his pupils adjusted to the dull green light that was stereotypical of a Prothean building, his heart went into his throat. All around him were the bodies of the Alliance scientist team. It was already pretty clear they had all died from the moment they arrived but, seeing it confirmed made it harder to swallow. Jack was also starting to notice a pattern as he examined the bodies up close, hardly any of them appeared to have a violent death. The blue skin and lips indicated they had suffocated slowly. Leng was changing how he operated, the assassin he knew would have just butchered these people without a second thought. Was he changing how he killed just because he wanted to get inside their heads? Or was someone above him now pulling the strings with a tight leash? Jack couldn't help them now no matter why they died in the way they had, he could only make sure that Leng paid for his crimes eventually.

Liara made her way to a door on the far end of the room letting some sand in, "This airlock shouldn't be open under any circumstances unless an absolute emergency."

Ashley walked up next to her glancing at the controls, "Doesn't look like it was forced or tampered with."

Kal's tone made everyone fall silent for a long time, "Meaning someone vented the air form this room while they were still here. Someone with current Alliance security codes so they could do it remotely."

Ashley frowned gazing over some of the bodies, "I'm beginning to think your right. Looks like they died trying to claw their way out." She turned her attention back to Liara, "Were any of these people friends of yours?"

Liara had a sad voice of her own, "I recognize a few, but I can't say I knew them well. As the only Asari here, I think, perhaps, I was viewed with a little suspicion. I spent most of my time researching alone. Translating."

Jack got up from observing the corpses knowing they needed to move, "There's nothing we can do for them now. Let's go get that key so they won't die in vain..."


	7. Chapter 6: The New Illusive Man

Notes: So it's been awhile I know. It's just I don't know if anyone is enjoying the series as of late and my star wars fic has a lot of success. So if anyone is still reading and want more of this, please let me know.

Chapter 6: The New Illusive Man

The oppressive silence was something Jack hated as they made their way through old Prothean living quarters. This place used to be a crowded research facility and now it was a ghost town. Unlike the Alliance section of the base that had been full of Lazarus soldiers, they encountered no resistance on this side of the base. Despite having the comfort in knowing Lazarus didn't have an unlimited supply of troops, Jack was just as uneasy passing by old dusty beds with no other noise than the sounds of their boots hitting the Prothean metal floor. What made it even more painful though was how many bodies of Alliance personnel they were finding as they followed Liara. All of them having been eliminated in the same way. Suffocation from the tram station's airlock opening. He quickly realized this wasn't because Leng was changing his m.o. it was faster to kill them all at once.

Ashley had a morbid tone as she stepped over one of the bodies with a delicate grace, "How long do you think it took them all to die?"

Liara kept her analytical approach to everything not wanting to think about the people that were now dead, "Humans typically cannot survive without oxygen for ninety seconds. There are exceptions to every rule of course but, I don't think much longer than that."

"We're going to make Leng pay for all the Alliance lost today." Ashley announced her voice was full of desire for revenge.

He didn't enjoy how fast Kal responded with, "He's going to pay for more than what happened just today."

Outside it had just been Kal he had to worry about going off the rails to kill Leng yet now Ashley wanted to do it as well. It wasn't that he didn't want to get the assassin too, Jack just knew they had bigger things to worry about. Securing the Prothean key had to be more of a priority than petty vengeance for a few lives lost. Ashley at least would follow his orders respecting the chain of command, at least most of the time. Kal on the other hand had never technically been an official member of the Alliance merely trusting Jack to make the right decisions and following them. That trust died the same time Kate Bowman had on Asteroid X99. Kal just found it easier to blame Leng for that since they wouldn't have needed to use the asteroid if everything had gone according to plan on the Collector Satellite. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, he had to continue to insist both of them stay focused on the mission and not personal emotions.

Jack made sure his commander's tone was clear and consistent, "We're only here to get the Prothean key. If we can avoid Leng entirely and leave him to die on this rock that should be the plan. Understood?"

Ashley was first to reply, "Understood."

Kal's voice was frustratingly defiant as ever, "If you want to pretend both things aren't connected, be my guest. I'm just trying to be realistic here. He probably has the map and is waiting for us to get to him."

Liara spoke up before he had the chance to answer, "Well, we're about to find out if your right Kal. That door leads to the elevator down to the tower's core."

Jack tensed training his rifle on it, "Be ready to shoot anything on the other side just in case he has another squad coming to meet us."

Kal, Ashley, and he set up in front of the door expecting more Lazarus forces to be waiting for them the second the door opened. Fortunately, the door opened to a completely empty elevator as though nothing was wrong in the base. Too bad none of the researchers found themselves inside the elevator when the airlock released all of the oxygen from the base. They might have survived for a few hours with the limited air trapped inside with them. Jack was thankful the four of them could fit inside simultaneously. He didn't want to imagine having to wait for the elevator to make a round trip to find out if Kal was ok or not. However, the floor beneath them shook a little as the elevator started moving down. A part of him wanted Kal to be wrong about Leng still being here, about the Alliance spy, about everything he said since they left Earth. Maybe it was too much to hope for everyone would set their differences aside in the middle of being systematically exterminated.

Ashley's gaze flicked to Liara, "So, how big of a key are we talking about here? Will we be able to carry it out or are we going to have to transmit it's information back to the Normandy?"

Liara smiled always loving discussions surrounding Prothean technology, "The device is small enough to fit into the palm of my hand but, preliminary scans indicated it holds a life time worth of Prothean data previously untapped by your science team. If we had more time I would suggest having EDI copy as much of the data as possible back to the ship before we leave so we don't potentially contaminate it. But, that's just me being selfish wanting to continue my Prothean research when this is all over."

Jack raised an eyebrow in her direction, "How do you contaminate a key Liara? Are you sure it'll still work if we take it out of here?"

Since the elevator was still moving he didn't mind she was going into a rant, "Yes, it's just that this key also appeared to be a way Protheans saved their memories. Can you picture being able to actually experience their everyday lives? I just don't necessarily know how it works so, it's possible they could be deleted the second we leave the tower. The key part should still function no matter what since it's primary design is to unlock vaults elsewhere."

Kal had a hard tone staring directly at her, "You're sure? That seems like something you need to be sure on before we leave the base."

Her reply didn't fill him with the most amount of confidence, "As sure as I can be about anything Prothean related Kal. I've spent half of my life looking into their species, yet they've been gone for fifty thousand years. There's only so much you can say with absolute certainty having no experience with it before."

Jack gulped as the elevator finally came to a stop, "I trust you Liara... There is just alot on the line. If you saw what was going on when we left Earth, you'd understand why we want to be sure."

"Of course, I just don't know what assurance I can provide besides my prior experience."

A groaning sound of metal grinding on metal hit his ears as the door slid open revealing the core of the Prothean tower. Similar to Feros, the room was shaped like a massive cylindrical tower with a gaping chasm in the center of the room. Instead of the killer plant thorian though, a huge Prothean beacon stood in the center glowing a pale green signalling it was active. At regular intervals around the massive Prothean structure were normal Prothean devices like the one on Feros. Each of the smaller beacons had a cluster of Alliance research tents around them making the room look more busy than it really was. He didn't want to imagine what getting hit with all of that data would feel like. Just the beacon on Eden Prime had been strong enough to put him out for several hours. Even though the room was so large he couldn't see the other side of it due to the tower in the middle, first appearances suggested they were once again alone. Perhaps he wasn't just hopelessly optimistic about Leng's departure from the base before they crossed paths. Although it was a relief, he didn't know what that meant for their chances of finding the key in one piece.

Liara rushed forward to one of the many tents nearby, "If the key hasn't been stolen it should be in this tent here."

Kal stayed at the entrance of the room looking around, "There's a lot of room for someone to hide in here. I don't like this."

"Maybe we should look around, make sure this isn't an ambush." Ashley suggested keeping a tight grip on her assault rifle.

Jack frowned giving the room a quick survey while Liara was busy digging around in the tent for the key, "Just don't separate from each other. We have no idea what kind of traps Leng might have left behind for us."

Liara'a shout made him bolt into the tent, "Shepard!"

When no one was in the tent he let a small wave of relief wash over him, "What? What is it?"

"The key it's..it's well...just look." She said with an air of defeat in her voice holding what had to be the key up to him.

At least what was left of the key anyway. Along the bottom edges he could see clear points where it had been broken in half. The lines that he could only assume used to light up with the Prothean's signature green glow were dull and black. Why would Leng do something like this? He could only guess from the way Liara reacted that the key wouldn't function while it was snapped in half. Didn't Lazarus want what was best for Humanity? Why sabotage the chance at obtaining something that could possibly save them? He had a hard time getting in the mind of Leng to come up with rational explanation for the play he was making. If this was just a trap to get them killed, where was the actual trap? The only other answer he could fathom was that Ashley had been right to theorize Lazarus and the Reapers were working together.

An unknown voice from behind them made him spin around, "Hello Shepard, I think it's time we were formally introduced."

In the corner of the tent stood a holo projector he recognized from standing on it over and over again during his work for Cerberus. The way the chairs in the room had been pushed aside to make room for the projector was a good indicator telling him it had been placed there recently. Staring back at them through the flickering holo was an older man wearing a white military uniform. If it wasn't for his bushy black eyebrows and slicked back black hair, this guy could have reasonably passed for the former head of Cerberus. Even though the Reapers were jamming communications out of the system, he could see the infamous dying star behind the man which usually came from The Illusive Man's office. Either Lazarus came up with a solution to circumvent the jamming in record time, or it was another piece of evidence they were cooperating with the Reapers.

Liara spoke first to not give him the satisfaction of revealing himself, "Oleg Petrovsky, previous chief of the Alliance Intelligence Agency."

He smiled as if proud of her for coming up with it, "I applaud you for coming up with that yourself Doctor T'Soni but, as you can see behind me I've moved up in the world. I prefer Illusive Man if you please."

Jack subtly signaled Kal and Ashley to look around for Leng since they had been watching from the entrance of the tent, "Sorry I didn't recognize you for a minute without a cigarette and alcohol. Turns out you have the same narcissism though. What do you want exactly?"

Oleg gave him a friendly smile, "I see prison hasn't changed you at all Jack. Sarcasm was never your strong suit." After a seconds pause he continued, "The Protheans left us these archives, a wealth of information, and it's been squandered. Until now. If you must know Jack I want what this organization has always wanted. The key to solving the Reaper threat."

He couldn't help but laugh at that, "Please, spare me the bullshit. We had the chance to find a weapon that could actually take out the Reapers and you have your lap dog break it in half. What is it that you really want?"

Oleg held up a finger as if he caught him in a verbal trap, "You see, that's what separates us Jack: where you see a means to destroy, I see a way to control. To dominate and harness the Reapers' power. Imagine how strong humanity would be if we controlled them. All of the other species would have to bend to our will. No more fighting, no war, just eternal peace."

Had this man lost his mind? How could one even consider to have the audacity to control the Reapers, a species of beings so powerful they exterminated all advanced organic life every fifty thousand years? The temptation to call him indoctrinated was growing stronger as the discussion continued to progress. Jack stopped short reflecting on the fact that Rael's plan wasn't that much different. All Petrovsky was suggesting was that instead of ordering the Reapers to self destruct, they should become subservient to his commands. It made sense as to why the key had been snapped in half, Lazarus was going to do everything in it's power to protect the Reapers long enough to learn how to control them. Despite having not worked before with the original Illusive Man, he was going to try to reason with him. The resources they could bring to the table could be what made the difference in the end. He just had to convince Petrovsky it was better to help each other instead of kill each other.

Jack did his best to channel the anger he was feeling into something constructive, "Earth is under siege, and you're hatching a scheme to control the Reapers? Can't you see it would be better for you to be seen as the saviors of the galaxy in all this?"

Oleg didn't budge from having a smug attitude, "Oh we will be Jack. The survivors will just have to worship us or be wiped out. How is that not protecting Humanities' best interests?"

Liara took a much more calm approach, "With all due respect, Harper would have recognized the danger to all life which includes Humanity and put a stop to the threat. Teaming up with Shepard to stop the Collectors should show you that much."

He shrugged nonchalantly clearly not bothered with her comparison, "As you're well aware, Harper's attitudes was what got him killed in the end. His personality isn't something I desire to emulate."

"Obviously." Jack said with disdain in his voice, as usual this was going nowhere.

Kal whispered in his ear through their internal comm system, "We've swept half the room and there's no sign of Leng. Keep this bosh'tet talking while we keep looking."

Oleg sighed disappointed in the way the conversation was going, "You've always been shortsighted Shepard. Hasty to make a decision you think is right without considering the long term ramifications. Your destruction of the Collector base proved that."

Reasoning with Oleg was going to be impossible. He was seemingly implying he should have kept the Collector Satellite for their use. A place that harvested millions of pounds of organic material to generate power. Anyone who could see that as an acceptable trade off wasn't going to listen to the idea that they needed to be destroyed. Still, Kal wanted him to distract him while he and Ashley searched for Leng. Jack was more tempted to shut down the call now and help in the search so he didn't have to keep listening to crazy. Kal had a point though, staying in contact with Oleg might give Leng a false sense of security no one was looking for him. He could only hope that once they found him they could put the Prothean key back together again. Otherwise this mission was a waste of time they could have been spending warning the Citadel about the Reapers. Or beginning the search for Saren and Garrus in the Perseus Veil.

His tone was defensive as well as defiant, "That base was an abomination. Hundreds of thousands of humans were murdered there. Nothing good would've come from using that thing."

Oleg yawned apparently done with the debate, "If you aren't willing to make tough sacrifices this can't be your fight any longer, Shepard. You won't be able to defeat the Reapers, even if you had the Prothean weapon."

Liara surprised him with a rather desperate plea, "Then why don't you work with us? Give us control of your resources, and I promise we'll stop them. We can fight over who is best equipped to handle the galaxy after the war is won."

He shook his head determined now, "I don't want the Reapers destroyed T'Soni. We can dominate them, use their power, harness their very essence to bring Humanity to the apex of evolution. If that means a few lives lost so be it."

Now it was Liara's turn to be angry, "You've gone too far. I've studied long enough to know that the Reapers will kill us all if we don't stop fighting each other! See reason for once."

"I don't expect either of you to understand, and I'm certainly not looking for your approval. You were a tool, an agent with a singular purpose. And despite our differences, you were relatively successful. But like the rest of the relics in this place, your time is over." Oleg backed away from the projector ending the call.

Kai Leng's voice almost immediately ended the silence, "You know, your always so predictable Shepard. Thinking everyone can be appealed to. I'll give you a hint, not all live deserves your protection. Here, have your key back."

The shock of seeing the assassin standing right outside his tent was quickly replaced with the shock of him handing the key back to him. It had to be some sort of trick right? He couldn't contemplate that serious possibility for long though since the key shard was coming towards him at top speed having been thrown in the air in his direction. Having no way to tell if it was fake or not in a few split seconds, Jack caught it out of instinct. At first everything was fine and he started to raise his gun with his free hand to shoot at him, until his head burst with a explosive headache. The last time he experienced something like this was on Freedomm's Progress when his mind associated a Collector seeker drone with a portion of his vision on Eden Prime. While this confirmed this was a piece of Prothean technology, Leng had done this to dehabilitate him for who knows how long. And just like that, everything went dark.

Instead of seeing a vision though, he heard Sovereign's voice, "There is a terminal here in this tree that has been rigged by the Prothean's to only answer to an organic willing to operate it. We will let your lover go in exchange for opening the Relay to dark space."

Wait a minute, he remembered hearing that exact speech from the Reaper confronting Saren on the Citadel. Why was a Prothean item making him hear memories from his past? None of the other Prothean technology he had ever interacted with had done anything similar before. On Ilos Victory told them that the Reaper cycles were down to such a science that he could put him and his companions into archetypes. Jack never truly believed that to be the case, every being in the galaxy had free will. The Reapers couldn't possibly control what everyone said or did to make the best possible outcome for themselves every cycle. Fifty thousand years was a long time with a lot of variations that occurred. Although he had been convinced it wasn't logical, his ears were shaking that faith by the second.

A male Prothean's voice spoke next, "If I do this, you'll let us walk away and live out the rest of our days together in peace?"

Sovereign replied in an impatient voice, "And if you fail to comply we will eliminate you both and find another organic pair to accept our terms."

A female Prothean's pleas entered his mind, "Javik please don't do this. He's lying about letting us go... Please don't... Please."

An indefinite silence followed leaving him cold and in the dark. How long was it going to be before he woke up? And what was happening with the others in the meantime?


	8. Chapter 7: Deja Vu

Chapter 7: Deja Vu

It felt as though hours, maybe even days had passed of Jack staring into darkness after the vision had ended. He didn't have time for this, the Citadel had to be made aware of the threat coming at them any minute now. Liara and Kal were certainly capable of sending the dire warming all on their own yet he felt as though he needed to be the one to make the case so the Council would actually listen to him. Although that hadn't really worked any of the other times he had tried reaching out to them since the hunt for Saren started this whole mess. Maybe it wasn't the worst idea imaginable to let someone else take the lead this time. While potentially a tempting thought, he couldn't submit to the tiredness when so much was at stake. Jack started this fight against the Reapers, it was his responsibility to finish it.

At the same time, seeing those Protheans go through the same motions he had in the Citadel Tower made him worry. How could the Reapers control time so efficiently that they could make two people, from two different times, backgrounds, and cultures say the same things word for word? And what was different about his final encounter with Saren near that tree than the countless cycles before him? Surely not all of the other heroes in their respective cycles were as selfish as he could sometimes get. Would he be able to replicate that success again without the Prothean failsafe? Was it even possible to do anything against enemies able to command so much power? Or was he only kicking and screaming in delaying the inevitable? Jack wasn't going to get an answer to any of those questions just laying here. He had to wake up.

The effort to open his eyes was more than he was comfortable with but soon enough Jack was able to look around and see he was in the Normandy's medbay. A feeling of deja vu washed over him remembering waking up after Eden Prime. Why did he have to feel like he was starting all over again? This room had become a second home for him over the years whether he was visiting an injured member of the team, or dealing with a bad hit he had sustained himself. Unfortunately the other permanent fixture of the medbay, Karin Chakwas, wasn't going to be with them this time. Her loss always took a toll on him since the Collector Satellite but now that she wasn't here to patch him up it felt more real. Instead, Tali was pacing around the room alternating between stroking her pregnant belly and playing with her hands nervously. The first question that came to his mind was where Kal was. Even though their relationship had hit a rough patch, he was sure that the Quarian would be here watching over him if he could.

Tali noticed he was waking up and visibly relaxed, "Thank Keelah my pilgrimage medical training was enough...how are you feeling?"

Jack ignored her question clearing his throat, "Where's Kal?"

She hesitated for a minute too long making his heart start to pound with fear, "When Leng gave you that Prothean key Kal thought he had done something worse to hurt you since you collapsed right after. He snapped and chased after him which was exactly what Leng was counting on. Leng used the knife he used on Feron hitting Kal." He was about to throw up when she continued, "Luckily, Kal used the sword he had to cut off the infection point. There's no sign of Reaper nanomachines but, he's lost a lot of blood, and a leg from the knee down."

That was an emotional rollercoaster ride he hadn't been prepared to be on. Despite Tali probably leaving out some gruesome details about the attack, it appeared as though Kal was stable. At least for now. Her statement also confirmed Leng's own boastings about being responsible for Feron's indoctrination. Had he attempted to do the same to Kal for his own sick quest of revenge for something their fathers did to each other? Or was Lazarus actively working with the Reapers to purge all sentient life in the galaxy? Oleg had sworn again and again that he was searching for a way to control the Reapers yet that sounded extremely similar to indoctrinated Saren's motivations. Jack wasn't sure how Oleg could have come into contact with Reaper material however it would explain the radical shift in ideology within the organization.

He did his best to keep calm, "Kal's going to be ok right?"

Tali once again toyed with her hands anxiously, "Me and Liara did everything we could for him with the combined knowledge of a Prothean archaeologist and a Quarian survivalist. He's going to need serious treatment on the Citadel Jack."

EDI's addition to the discussion made him much more comfortable, "Gunnery Chief Williams was also able to cauterize the wound almost immediately after it was self inflicted. Kal might not be entirely out of the woods yet, however, I predict he has a 98% chance of being able to make a full recovery. The bigger unknown remains: how long will he be unable to participate in the fight against the Reapers?"

Jack forced a smile towards the ceiling, "Thanks for the information EDI. What about Jacob? Is he alright?"

EDI didn't convey the surprise in her voice that Liara had all over her face from the question, "Other than some light damage to the Kodiak shuttle, Operative Taylor has only hurt his pride."

Joker jumped in with a mocking tone, "Hey, he shouldn't feel too bad. Not everyone can be a good a pilot as the resident cripple."

"Fair enough, do we know if going to the Archives was worth it?" Jack asked after a chuckle.

Liara was the first to reply slowly walking into the room, "In short, we still don't know for sure. From the preliminary information I was able to retrieve from the device with the help of Glyph, it does appear to be a key to other Prothean vaults all across the galaxy. Other than confirmation Horizon is the home to one of these vaults as well as vague references to a weapon, I wasn't able to determine anything we didn't already know before Mars. I'm afraid we're going to have to go to Horizon to be able to discover anything concrete."

To say Jack was frustrated with the situation was an understatement. They had stayed on Mars, risking their lives time and time again because Liara had said she was sure their was an alternative path to defeating the Reapers that didn't involve the missing Saren, Legion, and Garrus. Kal would definitely have avoided going into serious condition right now if he had just insisted to Liara they were going to the Perseus Veil instead of following her hunch. Then again, what if she was right and something happened to the three of them out there? Either path made him feel as though he was wasting time none of them had. Why couldn't Rael just come down from wherever he had been for the last six months and give him the answer himself? It was important to keep in mind Liara hadn't been acting in bad faith, she was after the same thing the rest of them were. That being said, he was going to have to be careful about not letting her obsession with the Protheans send them on a pointless chase.

EDI filled the temporary silence of Jack not knowing what to say, "Not all has been lost Jack. While you were planetside I was able to discover Lazarus is using the Reaper IFF we managed to capture aboard the remains of Sovereign in order to restore interstellar communications. They have essentially created a back door through the jamming frequencies to return to old contact methods."

"Is it safe for us to use that as well? I don't want to potentially give the Reapers intel on us. Especially when it could lead to the Normandy getting discovered despite the stealth drive being engaged." Jack asked with a bit of skepticism after previous dealings connecting the IFF's comm function to the ship.

If she shared any of those same concerns her tone wasn't expressing it, "We were discovered last time because Legion made a direct communication with the Collector dreadnought. If Rael's theory about the Reapers being VI's is correct, it is unlikely they were programmed to scan their network for any malicious actors. It is important to remember we are most likely the first cycle to put up this much of a fight against the Reapers."

Jack bit his lip still worried about jeopardizing the crew with a needless risk, "Is there anyway we can test that theory without putting our lives in serious harm?"

EDI's calculated voice didn't make him feel better at all, "We are at war Shepard, going forward nothing we do is guaranteed to save innocent lives or our own. However, I have had Joker position us next to the Charon Relay so we could instantly jump to the Widow Nebula if I am not correct. I suggest we contact Admiral Hackett to inform him of the results on Mars. The Reaper IFF could be a major factor in being able to coordinate attacks against them going forward."

The risk if EDI was wrong was very clear. Both the Normandy and Admiral Hackett's ship could be jumped on by about a dozen Reapers at once. He was confident the Normandy could escape such an engagement due to the combination of the stealth drive and Joker's excellent piloting abilities. On the other hand, an Alliance dreadnought didn't have the maneuverability or the firepower to engage that many Reapers. Hackett surely wasn't alone yet that just made the risk contacting him even greater. Seeing as Jack was already pretty confident in Rael's VI theory, why not just take another chance it was the right one? If they were wrong they were going to have much larger problems having to come up with a plan from what was basically square one all over again. And if EDI was right, he had the opportunity to save a lot of stranded Alliance personnel as well as proving the hypothesis to Liara. She wouldn't want to abandon her Prothean plan completely yet he didn't need that from her. Jack just wanted her to recognize it might not be the only option they had at achieving their goals. Plus, Hackett needed to be made aware of the potential spy in the Alliance Brass as soon as possible.

Jack dragged himself to his feet staring at Kal's injured form at the other end of the room, "Try to get a communication to him, the Alliance needs to know where we stand."

Ashley stood next to him in the comm room, "We'll both keep him in the loop."

There was no time to roll his eyes as a fuzzy crackling image of Hackett appeared, "Shepard...? Wil..iams are either of you re...ing me? Comman...r?"

Jack bit his lower lip relieved it was working and hoped they wouldn't suffer consequences from it, "EDI I want you to keep track of Reapers and make sure they aren't moving towards us. If they're tracking our coordinates end the transmission to make the jump through Charon. See if you can clear any of this up as well."

EDI sounded overworked for the first time, "I will do my best Shepard."

After another moment Hackett became a little clearer, "Ah, that's better, what happened on your end after we lost communications? Where's Anderson? Did you get to the Mars Archives?"

Jack was surprised Hackett was addressing him at all since the last time they talked was during his trial, desperate times called for desperate measures though. "President Doalia may have been killed by a Krogan assault group before the Reaper invasion but we got separated so I can't be sure. Anderson decided to stay on Earth to lead the resistance on the ground."

Hackett closed his eyes while rubbing his face in frustration, "Jesus Christ a Krogan assault force? And I thought this day couldn't get any worse. Do you have any idea what they were doing there at that specific moment?"

A part of him wondered if he should only give Hackett the flat truth, a simple 'yes because of me,' type of response. Everything Wrex said during their encounter indicated he was there to take revenge for his previous actions on Tuchanka. However, that wasn't going to explain how the Krogans not only slipped past Earth's defenses undetected, but also able to know Jack was transferred from his scheduled execution to an intelligence briefing. The only explanation he could come up with was that someone was feeding the Krogan information from the inside. Should he risk telling Hackett his suspicions when he had no idea who would've done that or why? What if this mysterious mole was listening to this discussion right now from wherever the Admiral was located? Despite the risk, addressing the potential problem now was better than allowing a spy to cause even more damage later.

"Not necessarily, although from my experience there and some events at the Archives, I'm beginning to suspect someone inside the Alliance is sending out information to our enemies in real time. How else would the Krogan know where the President was located?" He asked rhetorically not interested in going over his role in the Genophage cure over a holocall.

Hackett let out a very relatable huff of exhaustion, "I'll keep that in mind but we should be dealing with one thing at a time. You mentioned the Mars Archives, were you and Doctor T'Soni able to find anything useful?"

Ashley spoke for him now actually able to answer that question a little better than he could, "We were there and discovered a Prothean vault key universal to the entire galaxy. Apparently, some of the files mention a group of Prothean scientists developing a weapon capable of defeating the Reapers. We would've been able to learn more if it wasn't for Lazarus and their new Illusive Man showing up."

The Admiral ran his fingers through his thinning gray hair lost in thought, "I was worried Lazarus might try something in the middle of all this chaos. Did you manage to get the data we need?"

Jack decided to be brutally honest with him, "Even if I'm looking at this optimistically? No sir. All we have is a theory there could be a weapon and that's all. Lazarus agents downloaded most of the data before I could stop him. My team are doing their best analyzing what we recovered but, from my perspective we have a better alternative in the form of the Quarians."

Hackett took the bad news in stride, "Sorry to hear that Shepard, but we both know this is just the beginning. I trust you'll figure out the best way to get this done in the fastest way possible. Just don't close yourself off to something completely until we know its a bust for sure. In the meantime, talk to the Council. Show them what you've found and what your thinking. With luck, they'll give you all the support we need."

He couldn't help himself from showing skepticism after years of doing exactly as he described getting the same negative result, "And if they aren't in the mood to help?"

Hackett had a stern expression on his face, "No ones saying you have to play nice to get their support. Barter, cheat, steal, I don't care just do whatever it takes to get them on board. Otherwise none of us have anything to live for. I'll be in touch soon expecting a full report on our next move, Hackett out."

A deep breath came out of him as the image of Hackett faded away. It was going to be a long few hours before they reached the Citadel...


End file.
